You will not get into 'trouble', and your coder should absolutely not waste the provider's time with this. There is a remote possibility that some payers may not accept the unspecified diagnosis code, but you can deal with that when and if a denial is received, which I wouldn't expect you will even see. When ICD-10 began, CMS issued the guidance below, which I think states it better than I can. The important point is that it is acceptable and correct to use an unspecified code when that is the best code to support the document and the clinical information available. The doctor should not be asked to needlessly amend their documentation based on this incorrect claim your coder has made. Your doctor's priority is to take care of patients and they should never be required to spend their valuable time on unnecessary administrative tasks.
Question: Will unspecified codes be allowed once ICD-10 flexibilities expire?
Answer: Yes. In ICD-10-CM, unspecified codes have acceptable, even necessary, uses.... While you should report specific diagnosis codes when they are supported by the available medical record documentation and clinical knowledge of the patient’s health condition, in some instances signs/symptoms or unspecified codes are the best choice to accurately reflect the health care encounter. You should code each health care encounter to the level of certainty known for that encounter. When sufficient clinical information is not known or available about a particular health condition to assign a more specific code, it is acceptable to report the appropriate unspecified code (for example, a diagnosis of pneumonia has been determined but the specific type has not been determined).