AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-9-CM released its first ICD-10 coding guidance in its Fourth Quarter 2012 issue. The guidance is welcome as the first official coding regulations concerning ICD-10 to come out to date, other than the ICD-10 Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting.Read More »
Concurrent coding. It’s a process whereby coders assign ICD-9-CM codes throughout the patient’s stay, rather than after discharge. But the practice isn’t a common one. According to a recent CDI poll on the ACDIS website, only 13% of nearly 170 respondents perform concurrent coding at their...Read More »
Q:We recently had a case where the patient was admitted for “sepsis secondary to a urinary infection (UTI) with chronic Foley.” I am wondering if there is a AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-9-CM tosupport coding this case to 996.64, Infection and...Read More »
Q:The majority of the admissions I am reviewing this week are for an elderly population. It seems that they all have the same admitting diagnoses: Failure to thrive (FTT), urinary tract infection (UTI), fever, dehydration, altered mental status (AMS). I am confused...Read More »
It’s been more than two weeks since ICD-10 became the official code set and the sky hasn’t fallen. Despite claims that from the AMA and other physician groups that ICD-10 was a “looming disaster” that...Read More »
In 2004, the Coordination and Maintenance Committee created a definition of sepsis that became the basis of ICD-9-CM’s Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting and was used in a number of AHA’s Coding Clinics. That definition included...Read More »
Q: Our physicians frequently document ‘meets sepsis criteria.’ Is this a bad habit forming? If the patient is septic, shouldn’t the physician state sepsis due to, or just sepsis? I worry that if the patient has a few vital signs off the physicians are documenting sepsis...Read More »
