Primary Care Coding Alert

Code J32.x with a fourth digit to specify location.When following the ICD-9-CM code set, you report 473.x (Chronic sinusitis) for patients suffering from chronic infection of sinus if the symptoms persist despite two or more months' treatment. This condition interferes with drainage and causes mucus to build up, and is also known as rhinosinusitis, hyperplastic sinusitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, and chronic unspecified sinusitis.ICD difference: Effective Oct. 1, 2013, you'll have several location-specific diagnoses to select among. Turn to the "J" codes of ICD-10 to report chronic sinusitis and its subcategories:J32.0 -- Chronic maxillary sinusitisJ32.1 -- Chronic frontal sinusitisJ32.2 -- Chronic ethmoidal sinusitisJ32.3 -- Chronic sphenoidal sinusitisJ32.4 -- Chronic pansinusitisJ32.8 -- Other chronic sinusitisJ32.9 -- Chronic sinusitis, unspecified. ICD-10 retains the description of chronic sinusitis subcategories from their ICD-9 counterparts, with the addition of one subcategory J32.4, which describes chronic pansinusitis and is currently not available to us under ICD-9.Documentation: The family physician should note any symptoms of the [...]