Outpatient Facility Coding Alert

Select distinct diagnosis code for ICD-10  

Several diagnoses can apply when a surgeon administers injections to treat carpal tunnel syndrome (20526, Injection, therapeutic [eg, local anesthetic, corticosteroid], carpal tunnel). Take a quick glance at how these diagnosis codes will transition under ICD-10 in October 2015.

The ICD-9 code 719.4x (Pain in joint) gets more specific in the ICD-10 system of coding. The codes specifically indicate pain in the wrist with further clear-cut options as unspecified wrist, right and left wrist.  The ICD-10 codes are as follows:

• M25.539 (Pain in unspecified wrist)
• M25.531 (Pain in right wrist)
• M25.532 (Pain in left wrist).

In the ICD-10 system of coding, the ICD-9 code 729.5 (Pain in limb) becomes M79.6x (Pain in limb, hand, foot, fingers and toes)... and explodes with a plethora of options. The code M79.609 will be used to report pain in unspecified limb. The extended codes provides  30 options, with right, left and unspecified sites of arm (M79.601 – 603), forearm (M79.631- 632,639), upper arm (M79.621-622, 629), hand (M79.641-43), fingers (M79.644-646), thigh (M79.651-52,659), leg(M79.604-605), lower leg (M79.661-662,669), feet (M79.671-673), and toe (M79.674-76).

The ICD-9 code 728.87 (Muscle weakness [generalized]) will retain the exact same descriptor with M62.81. 

In the ICD-9 system of coding, diagnosis 354.0 ( Carpal tunnel syndrome) is coupled with  mononeuritis of upper limb and mononeuritis multiplex. The ICD-10 system brings in more clarity with separate codes for unspecified upper, right, and left limbs, which are as follows:

• G56.00 (Carpal tunnel syndrome, unspecified upper limb)
• G56.01 (Carpal tunnel syndrome, right upper limb)
• G56.02 (Carpal tunnel syndrome, left upper limb).