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General Surgery Coding Alert

Reader Question:

569.81 Migrates to K63.2 for ICD-10

Published on Wed Feb 15, 2012

Question: What is the correct ICD-9 code for a mucous fistula encountered during a transverse colectomy performed by our surgeon? Ohio SubscriberAnswer: Based on the procedure you mention, we'll assume that this is an intestinal fistula. If that is the case, the proper ICD-9 code is 569.81 (Fistula of intestine, excluding rectum and anus). ICD-9 lists the following fistula site examples for this code: abdominal wall, enterocolic, enteroenteric, ileorectal. The code excludes fistula of intestine to internal organs.Prepare for ICD-10: You should begin to familiarize yourself with the ICD-10 code set, which will become effective Oct. 1, 2013. You'll report the same condition in ICD-10 as K63.2 (Fistula of intestine). Documentation detail needed: This example points out the need for more complete documentation once ICD-10 is in place. You can see that K63.2 has a large "excludes" list, as follows, and you'd need more information than you provided in your [...]
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