Wiki Sliding scale insulin

[hyb2922crc]

Hello, seeking guidance on whether documentation patient is on sliding scale insulin use should be coded as long term insulin use (z79.4). If you have guidance please offer rationale and resources guidance is supported with. Thanks in advance!

 

[thomas7331]

I don't have a reference for you, but in my experience the term 'sliding scale' refers to a particular type of physician order where the dosage of insulin is set based on the results of the blood glucose levels. So saying that a patient is 'on sliding scale', in an of itself, does not tell you whether or not the patient has actually been using insulin. They might not be needing or taking the insulin if the blood sugars are controlled, or it could even be that the patient is not following the physician's sliding scale recommendations at all. I would look for additional documentation to support the long term insulin use code beyond just the presence of a sliding scale in the physician's orders for the patient.