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Selection of fever/dehydration as Pdx

S

sateeshtv

Networker
Messages
39
Location
Thrissur, KL
Hi all:

In inpatient a 4 year old child admitted with fever, vomitting and got dehydrated.
Can we use dehydration as principal diagnosis in this case or fever?

Kindly advice.

Thanking you all:
 
Hi Marcus:

Thank you so much for your kind reply.I have still doubts regarding coding fever/vomiting as principal diagnosis, since both come under sign & symptoms & dehydration is a condition.
Can you please clarify this ?
 
If the provider identifies the fever and vomiting as signs of dehydration then you code only the dehydration, this is cover in the coding guidelines. If the provider documents the patient has fever, vomiting AND is dehydrated then it is possible the symptoms could be indicators of some other larger issue and there will be further investigation. In that case you would code all 3 codes. It really depends on how the provider states the issues withing the documentation.
 
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