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Orthopedic Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

Crush Injury Amputation Code?

Published on Tue Sep 09, 2003

Question: Is there an ICD-9 code that describes a transmetatarsal amputation due to a crush injury?

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Answer: You should report the appropriate amputation code (896.0-896.3) as your primary diagnosis, with either 928.3 (Crushing injury of lower limb; toe[s]) or 928.20 (Crushing injury of lower limb; foot) as the secondary ICD-9 code, depending on the area that was crushed. You should also report an E code as the third diagnosis to describe the cause of the injury. For example, if a box of building materials fell out of the patient's truck and onto his foot, you would report E916 (Struck accidentally by falling object) as your tertiary diagnosis code.
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