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Ob-Gyn Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Complications

Published on Thu Nov 01, 2001

Test your coding knowledge.  Determine how you would code this situation before looking at the box below for the answer. Question: When coding for complications affecting pregnancy, are we restricted to the codes in Chapter 11, "Complications of Pregnancy" of ICD-9 (630-677), or can we use codes elsewhere in the book? For instance, if an ob patient has blood in her stool, there is no pregnancy code to describe that.

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Answer: The terms found under most of the codes listed in Chapter 11 are not exhaustive; they are examples only. But if the condition in the ob/gyn patient is affecting her pregnancy, you must choose a code from that chapter. So, for blood in stool, choose 648.9x (other current conditions classifiable elsewhere). Although the symptom is not listed as an example under the code definition, because it is not listed as an "excluded" symptom it is still appropriate. The secondary code would be the symptom for the complaint 578.1 (blood in stool) in this case.
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