Otolaryngology Coding Alert
Reader Questions:
Tonsillitis Code Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All
Published on Thu Apr 14, 2022
Question: A patient came to the office with a post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage. Should we apply the tonsillitis diagnosis to it? Or is there an aftercare code that fits more appropriately? Codify Subscriber Answer: Neither of those will work in this situation. The post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage is a postoperative complication. Since tonsillitis is coded to the respiratory system, the correct code choice is J95.830 (Postprocedural hemorrhage of a respiratory system organ or structure following a respiratory system procedure). This is more accurate than using a tonsillitis code, since the patient no longer has tonsillitis, considering they no longer have tonsils.
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