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Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

Diagnosis Coding:

Adjust Your Codes Easily When Dx Changes During Hospital Stay

Published on Fri May 27, 2011

Educate your physician to keep you in the loop on patients' development.Just because a patient enters the hospital with one diagnosis doesn't mean she'll have that diagnosis for her entire stay. And if you bill for your physician's hospital visits with an out-ofdate diagnosis, you could lose money or face fraud charges.The problem: Diagnoses can change in the hospital due to various reasons, including the following, among others:The physician may narrow down the patient's problem. For example, a patient may be admitted with abdominal pain, and the doctor may rule out appendicits and decide the problem is actually an ovarian cyst that has ruptured.The patient may develop other problems. The patient may be admitted for dehydration problems but may start having vaginal bleeding.The patient may experience complications that lead their original complaint to worsen significantly. You can't wait for the hospital to send you medical records and hope to bill [...]
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