Wiki other vs unspecified

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bird007@me.com said:
how do I determine if a DX is other vs unspecified? ie K20.90 esophagitis unspecified w/o/bleeding vs K20.80 other Esophagitis w/o bleeding
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The vast majority of the time you're going to use the unspecified code.

"Other" codes are ONLY used when the provider documents a specific type of disease that doesn't have its own distinct code.

Using your example...

If the provider's documentation just says "Esophagitis", then the exact type is unspecified. K20.9- is the most appropriate code.

If the provider's documentation named a specific form of Esophagitis that didn't have its own code, then you'd code K20.8- for a specified form of esophagitis that didn't have it's own code.

"Other" is when the type is specified, unspecified is when the type is...well, UNspecified.
 
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There are some coding videos on YouTube that might help understand it better.

Here's one example from ContempoCoding

I'm sure there are others too. Hope this helps!
 
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