These updates keep your swine flu coding on track -- now and in the fall. Truth 1: Stick With 487.x -- For Now Provided you're up to date with the latest ICD-9 coding expert recommendations, your coding for confirmed cases should be on track. "Given the current coding constraints, 487.x (Influenza) is the best choice for the interim period," says Kathy Giannangelo, MA, RHIA, CCS, CPHIMS, FAHIMA, an independent consultant in Springfield, Ill. Reason: The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has indicated they feel under the current code titles that 487 is the appropriate code, reports Jeffrey F. Linzer Sr., MD, MICP, FAAP, FACEP, associate medical director of compliance and business affairs for the Emergency Pediatric Group at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. Do this: Truth 2: Add 488.1 to Fall Ticket This fall, you'll turn to a new code in an expanded category. In ICD-9 2010, the 488 category covers a broader group of "certain identified influenza viruses," rather than the 2009 limited title "Influenza due to identified avian influenza." Speed tip: "I'm glad to see that the NCHS published a new code after the proposed rule was already out," Giannangelo says. The new code has been created "to provide data capture for the novel H1N1 influenza virus (swine flu virus), which was first identified in April, after the March 2009 ICD-9-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee meeting," according to the NCHS (www.cdc.gov/nchs/datawh/ftpserv/ftpicd9/ftpicd9.htm). Don't miss: • • • • •