ICD 10 Coding Alert

Documentation:

Don't Let "Urosepsis" Infect Your ICD-10 Claim With Errors

If your MD doesn't want queries, then strike this term from future notes.

If you receive a physician note with the term "urosepsis," you may find yourself grappling with the question -- is it a urinary tract infection (UTI) or a UTI with sepsis?

Currently: In ICD-9, you have coding conventions to follow, which is to use 599.0 (Urinary tract infection, site not specified) for "urosepsis." According to ICD-9 guidelines, "The term urosepsis is a nonspecific term. If that is the only term documented then only code 599.0 should be assigned based on the default for the term in the ICD-9-CM index, in addition to the code for the causal organism if known."

In the future: However, ICD-10 eliminates this term. The ICD-10-Manual includes a note to "code to condition," which means you must query the physician to determine the appropriate code assignment.

Specifically, ICD-10 guidelines state:

(ii) Urosepsis  The term urosepsis is a nonspecific term. It is not to be considered synonymous with sepsis. It has no default code in the Alphabetic Index. Should a provider use this term, he/she must be queried for clarification.

Action item: Explain to your physicians and coders "urosepsis" does not exist in ICD-10. That means your physicians should not use that term, unless they want to be bothered with queries. More specific documentation about this condition is necessary.

Other Articles in this issue of

ICD 10 Coding Alert

View All