# Chronic vs Acute.



## wynonna (Mar 2, 2018)

If unspecified, do we bill acute or chronic?
At what point does an illness become chronic?
I see hypertension and diabetes being billed and I think of them as chronic
Would you all agree?


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## thomas7331 (Mar 2, 2018)

Acute vs. chronic is a clinical judgment - it isn't based on a specific amount of time and can't be determined for coding purposes unless the provider has documented it.  If unspecified, the ICD-10 code book will direct you to the correct code - many codes, for example, have chronic in parentheses in which case that term will not affect the code choice and will be the default when it is unspecified.


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## wynonna (Mar 14, 2018)

*Follow up for chronic on table of risk*

So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as:   Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
Any input from other coders would be helpful.
Thank you!


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## daedolos (Mar 14, 2018)

wynonna said:


> So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as:   Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
> Any input from other coders would be helpful.
> Thank you!



I would consider those two chronic conditions.

Peace
@_*
http://www.wvupc.com/compliance/icd10/PPT/DMHTNICD10.pdf


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## amla12 (Mar 14, 2018)

wynonna said:


> So for moderate level 4, when we see 2 or more stable chronic illnesses, such as:   Diabetes and Hypertension are being followed and monitored, would they be considered 2 chronic illnesses in this context for moderate table of risk?
> Any input from other coders would be helpful.
> Thank you!



Here is a definition. As a rule of thumb, the long-term daily medications a patient takes give a rough indication of their chronic diseases. Of course this would not include conditions they're not being medicated for - like obesity.


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