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Gastroenterology Coding Alert

ICD-10 Update:

K70.1 Amplifies Alcoholic Hepatitis Options

Published on Thu Dec 20, 2012

Descriptor changes help eliminate chronicity confusion. If you’re reporting alcoholic hepatitis diagnosis after Oct.1, 2014 get set to delve deeper into documentation. Specifically, you will need to focus on the presence or absence of ascites, as this determines the ICD-10 code that you will choose to correctly report the condition. Single ICD-9 Code Omits Disease Progress When your gastroenterologist makes a diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis using ICD-9 codes, you will have to report the condition using 571.1 (Acute alcoholic hepatitis). Note that the presence or absence of ascites does not play a role in choosing the code, which means that you will not be able to discern the progress of the condition. Identify Ascites for Detailed Reporting in ICD-10 When using ICD-10 codes, 571.1 in ICD-9 crosswalks to K70.1 (Alcoholic hepatitis) in ICD-10. Note that the descriptor in ICD-10 has eliminated the word "acute," thus enabling you to report acute [...]
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