Home Health & Hospice Week

You're going to have to put in some effort on learning ICD-10 now if you don't want major diagnosis coding headaches when the new system takes effect.

When ICD-9 becomes ICD-10 in 2013, you will not always have a simple crosswalk relationship between old codes and new ones. Often, you'll have more options that may require tweaking the way you document services and a coder reports it. Check out the following example of how ICD-10 will change your coding options when the calendar turns to Oct. 1, 2013.

Suppose a patient is diagnosed with osteoarthrosis (715.xx-716. xx). These codes specify location, primary, or secondary.

ICD-10 difference: Once Oct. 1, 2013 rolls around, you should look to:

M15 (Polyosteoarthritis)

M16 (Osteoarthritis of hip)

M17 (Osteoarthritis of knee)

M18 (Osteoarthritis of first carpometacarpal joint)

M19 (Other and unspecified osteoarthritis).

Coder tips: Notice how codes M19.01--M19.93 entail unspecified locations. ICD-10 no longer groups unspecified locations alongside the specific locations for each type (as in, the familiar .9 code in most ICD-9 categories). You will find them at the end of the code grouping (M19.90--M19.93) for each specific type but in an unspecified location.

In addition, traumatic osteoarthritis is now more appropriately indexed and described as posttraumatic osteoarthritis, the true condition.