Gastroenterology Coding Alert

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 [...]