Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't list new fecal impaction code for all patients with constipation. As the ICD-9 code set changes and expands each year, there's always hope for new codes to make the case mix list. The 2011 changes don't disappoint. The 2011 ICD-9 update brings three new codes to the case mix list, says attorney Lisa Selman-Holman, consultant and principal of Selman-Holman & Associates and CoDR -- Coding Done Right in Denton, Texas. 1. Fecal Impaction: The new code for fecal impaction (560.32) made the list. The entire 560.3 subcategory is already on the case mix list, Selman- Holman points out. Be careful to limit the coding of 560.32 to those situations where fecal impaction is actually documented and don't assign the code for just constipation, she says. 2. Purpura and other hemorrhagic conditions: New codes in existing case mix category 287.x (Purpura and other hemorrhagic conditions) including 287.41 (Posttransfusion purpura) and 287.49 [...]