ICD 10 Coding Alert

Use these expert tips to hone your skills further.

Each of these four questions relates to a commonly diagnosed lung condition. Read the questions, jot down your answers, and compare them to the key on page 13.

Question 1: What is the difference between bronchitis and bronchiolitis, and how would you code for a diagnosis of chronic bronchiolitis?

Question 2: There are two different ways to code bronchitis with tracheitis. What are they, and what factor would lead you to choose one over the other?

Question 3: Tracheobronchitis affects both the trachea in the upper part of the respiratory system as well as the bronchi, which are a part of the lower respiratory system. Given that the ICD-10 index does not list a code for the condition, and that respiratory codes are divided into upper respiratory infections and lower respiratory infections, how would you assign a code for this condition?

Question 4: Your physician diagnoses a patient with acute bronchitis due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). As the condition is caused by a virus, should you add a code from the Certain Infectious and Parasitic Disease chapter of ICD-10 to document the RSV in addition to an appropriate acute bronchitis code?