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Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

READER QUESTIONS:

Fixate on Fifth Digit for Ob Codes

Published on Sun Jan 01, 2006

Question: Would the correct ICD-9 code for pulmonary edema, four days postpartum, be 674.54? 


Minnesota Subscriber
Answer: The base code 674.5x (Peripartum cardiomyopathy) is correct. Peripartum cardiomyopathy and pulmonary edema frequently go hand-in-hand. If the ob-gyn discharged the patient and then the pulmonary edema developed, you should report 674.54 (-postpartum condition or complication).

If she was still hospitalized following the delivery when she developed it, you should report 674.52 (- delivered, with mention of postpartum complication) instead. All other ob codes reported during this hospitalization would also need to have a fifth digit of -2.- The answers for Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were provided by Melanie Witt, RN, CPC, MA, an ob-gyn coding expert based in Guadalupita, N.M.
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