Cardiology Coding Alert

But be prepared to code 'other' and 'unspecified' hyperlipidemia separately.Chances are pretty good that high cholesterol will still be a challenge for your patients when ICD-10 goes into effect in 2013. Here's a look at how coding for this, and similar diagnoses, compares between ICD-9 andICD-10.ICD-9-CM Codes:272.0, Pure hypercholesterolemia272.1, Pure hyperglyceridemia272.2, Mixed hyperlipidemia272.4, Other and unspecified hyperlipidemiaICD-10 Codes:E78.0, Pure hypercholesterolemiaE78.1, Pure hyperglyceridemiaE78.2, Mixed hyperlipidemiaE78.4, Other hyperlipidemiaE78.5, Hyperlipidemia, unspecifiedChange: ICD-10 offers a one-to-one code match with ICD-9 for pure hypercholesterolemia (272.0, E78.0), pure hyperglyceridemia (272.1, E78.1), and mixed hyperlipidemia (272.2, E78.2). But where ICD-9 offers one code for "other and unspecified hyperlipidemia" (272.4), ICD-10 offers one code for "other" (E78.4) and a different code for "unspecified" (E78.5).Documentation: Your clinicians' documentation shouldn't need to change from its current form. All you need to do as a coder to capture this already present information is to format your superbill to capture the difference [...]