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General Surgery Coding Alert

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Ensure Your Skills Are Up to Par Before the New Diagnosis Codes Hit

Published on Sat Nov 28, 2009

Answer 1: A. ICD-9 2010 will offer you 12 new chronic venous embolism and thrombosis codes (453.50-453.79). The individual codes break the category down by specifying upper or lower extremity and the type of vein. For chronic venous embolism and thrombosis of superficial veins of left arm, you'll report 453.71 (Chronic venous embolism and thrombosis of superficial veins of upper extremity). Code 453.8 (Other venous embolism and thrombosis of other specified veins) will be deleted on Oct. 1. Code 453.81 (Acute venous embolism and thrombosis of superficial veins of upper extremity) is for an acute condition, rather than chronic. Answer 2: False. When a V code is your only option, report it as the primary diagnosis. If you think that you should never report V codes (found near the back of the ICD-9 manual) as primary diagnosis codes, think again. Although it used to be difficult to collect reimbursement from [...]
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