Laureen shows you her proprietary “Bubbling and Highlighting Technique”
Download your Free copy of my "Medical Coding From Home Ebook" at the top right corner of this page
Is the work status external cause code required for correct coding even when an encounter does not specify work status, volunteer activity, student activity etc. etc. ? When such things are specified I code, however, for example, if a baby has a fall, would y99.9 be required for "correct coding".
Thanks
V. Cook, CPC
Does anyone know how to make a request for additional digits to be added to ICD-10 codes?
I had hoped the N63 code group would have an addition this fall to include an additional digit of 8 like what we see on the breast cancer codes to allow for coding overlapping quadrant areas, ie. 12,3,6 or 9 o’clock locations. Breast cancer codes allow for use of C50.8– for overlapping sites, however this is not available with the breast mass codes & we do receive denials for use of the unspecified quadrant codes. At this point it does not look like the N63 section codes will change Oct 2018.
My question is – can we do that? Here is an example:
PT comes in for a B12 shot for "Vitamin b12 def, unspecified" (word for word) as noted on the encounter. We were told to bill as "other specified B12 def" as this would pay and the other would not. Usually I would query the physician for a more accurate diagnosis but a lot of the time there WAS no more specific diagnosis, especially in these cases. Also, asking them to go back and change their diagnosis so we could bill and get paid seemed unethical. This isn’t a case of there being a more accurate diagnosis available, but changing the diagnosis on the claim.
I am relatively new, so I am curious as to whether we could do this. I refused to until I got clarification but I haven’t found any specific documentation on it. Can someone help me out or point me in the right direction? Thank you!