Neurology & Pain Management Coding Alert

Think you know how to report your Herpes zoster diagnoses in ICD-10? Take a look at these scenarios and test your ability to narrow down to the correct code for these conditions in ICD-10.

Example 1: If you read that the patient developed a T5 radiculopathy following an episode of Herpes zoster infection, you will turn to code B02.29 in ICD-10. This clearly does not fall in any other specific category of complications.

Example 2: If the neurologist notes the patient has an erythematous vesicular rash around the ear, a mucosal rash in the oropharynx, and a facial palsy, with a diagnosis of geniculate ganglionitis, you report ICD-10 code B02.21.

Example 3: Your pain management provider documents the patient has trigeminal neuralgia due to VZV with patient complaints of pain in the jaw and cheeks and reported electric shock-like stabs subsequent to having developed a skin rash in the past. You would report B02.22.

Example 4: If a patient who had a herpetic rash complains of numbness in the segment of the lateral thigh, you report an unspecified neurological complication with code B02.29.

Example 5: If the clinical note specifies that 'a week after the appearance of skin rash, the patient noticed progressive weakness in right hand and there was also a difficulty in raising right arm above the shoulder', with the neurologist's confirmation of a cervical myelitis due to the Herpes zoster outbreak, you would report code B02.24.