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Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Diagnosis Coding:

Scrutinize Symptoms When Coding C. difficile-Associated Diseases

Published on Thu May 05, 2011

Loose bowel movement might tell you more than meets the eye.If a patient comes to your office reporting an episode of diarrhea, your physician may need to validate its real cause before providing treatment. Often, a bacterium called Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) could set off symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon.While the cause of diarrhea is not identified in most patients because they get well without or with minor treatment, your practice should still be wary of the real origin of this symptom. Learn the ways to quickly recognize, diagnose, and report diarrhea with this expert advice.Background: The ICD-9-CM manual defines diarrhea as:Abnormal frequency and fluidity of feces.Increased liquidity or decreased consistency of feces, such as running stool; fecal consistency is related to the ratio of water-holding capacity of insoluble solids to total water, rather than the amount of water present; diarrhea is not hyperdefecation or [...]
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