Q:Is it okay to code a diagnosis if the physician documents two diagnoses using the phrase “versus” between them? For example, the patient arrives with abdominal pain and the physician orders labs and other tests but they all come back normal. In the discharge note, the...Read More »
Q:Could you please explain unrelated surgical procedure DRGs? For example, a patient with a principal diagnosis of pneumonia whose surgical procedure transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), MS-DRG 168. Also can you explain how we can differentiate between...Read More »
A diabetic patient is admitted with gangrene. The physician does not specifically link the diabetes and the gangrene, but alsodoes not document any other potential cause of the gangrene. Should you code both conditions?
In ICD-9-CM, coders can assume a cause-and-effect...Read More »
Go to your local bookstore, pick up a copy of Gray’s Anatomy (the book, not the television show), and flip though the illustrations. Alternately, you can Google “Gray’s anatomy illustrations.” They are in the public domain. Some of them are...Read More »
In the Revenue Cycle Institute white paper, “ICD-10-PCS Introduces Procedure Guidelines and Coder Confusion,”Jennifer Avery, CCS, CPC-H, CPC, CPC-I, regulatory specialist for HCPro,Inc. explores each of these...Read More »
Q:We have a problem getting our physicians to understand what we are querying for (chronic respiratory failure) when a patient is on home oxygen continuously with documented supplementary oxygen (SpO2) of <90% or arterial blood gas (ABG) with hypoxemia documented....Read More »
Q: I need help identifying the principal diagnosis for the following situation. The patient presented with shortness of breath and hypoxia, and had emergent dialysis which resolved his symptoms. However the patient’s international normalized ratio (INR) was sub therapeutic due...Read More »
New guidelines published in the May 2012 Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics represents a consensus statement of the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (the Academy) and the American Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition...Read More »
