Primary Care Coding Alert

Physicians should check for underlying disorders that cause symptoms.If your physician gives you a chart today that notes a patient's presenting complaint as "shortness of breath," you select diagnosis 786.05 (Shortness of breath). You'll still have a single choice when ICD-10 goes into effect in October 2013, with R06.02. Making the switch will be simple because code R06.02 retains the same descriptor as 786.05: shortness of breath. ICD-10 difference: Because the descriptor remains the same, the conversion to ICD-10 will offer no difference in reporting shortness of breath. Generally, however, the new classification system (ICD-10) aims to provide significant improvements through greater detailed information and the ability to expand in order to capture additional advancements in clinical medicine.Coding tips: Shortness of breath is usually a symptom of an underlying disorder such as asthma (493.90, Asthma, unspecified), pneumonia (486, Pneumonia, organism unspecified), or cardiac ischemia (414.9, Chronic ischemic heart disease, unspecified). [...]