ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert

Question: When a patient suffers from alcoholic liver disease, what is the best way to choose an ICD-10 code?

Missouri Subscriber

Answer: You’ll have to start with the type of liver disease; you can find these codes in the K70.- (Alcoholic liver disease) code set. The types of liver disease are:

• K70.0 (Alcoholic fatty liver)
• K70.1- (Alcoholic hepatitis)
• K70.2 (Alcoholic fibrosus and sclerosis of liver)
• K70.3- (Alcoholic cirrhosis of liver)
• K70.4- (Alcoholic hepatic failure)
• K70.9 (Alcoholic liver disease, unspecified)

5^th character alert: Three of these codes extend to the 5^th character. These 5^th characters are used to indicate either with/without ascites (K70.1-, K70.3-) or with/without coma (K70.4-).

Chris Boucher, MS, CPC, Senior Development Editor, AAPC