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Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Diagnosis Coding:

Coding Nondefinitive Diagnoses Remain Your Biggest Challenge

Published on Fri Sep 09, 2011

All you need to report are signs and symptoms when diagnostics come back normal.You think you may have mastered most ICD-9 challenges, but do you know how to deal with a diagnostic test that comes back sans a definitive diagnosis? When you make sure to convey to payers exactly what you found, you'll overcome these challenges. Here are sure-fire ways how to do that.Follow 3 Rules for Normal Diagnostics ResultsScenario 1: The gastroenterologist refers a patient to a radiologist for an abdominal CT scan (74150-74170) with a symptom of abdominal pain (789.0). The CT scan, when interpreted by the GI, reveals the presence of an abscess. Both the radiologist -- when reporting for the technical component of the CT scan, and the gastroenterologist -- when reporting for the professional component of the same test, should report a diagnosis of "intra-abdominal abscess" (567.22, Peritoneal abscess).Challenge: What should you do if the diagnostics came [...]
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