Primary Care Coding Alert

Once ICD-10 goes into effect, check the type of retained body.Choosing your primary diagnosis code for foreign body removal (FBR) will stay the same in some regards when ICD-10 goes into effect. For example, the ICD-9 code 709.4 (Foreign body granuloma of skin and subcutaneous tissue) makes an easy shift under ICD-10 to L92.3 (Foreign body granuloma of the skin and subcutaneous tissue). You might need to add one more code, however, to have a complete claim beginning in Oct. 2013.Here's why: Coding notes with ICD-10 sometimes instruct you to "Use additional code to identify the type of retained foreign body (Z18-)." Prior to 2011, you didn't have any additional codes to report for FBR. The 2011 version of ICD-9 includes a new text note stating, "Use additional code to identify foreign body." ICD-9 added 14 new V codes for foreign body removal that parallel what you'll see in ICD-10.Here [...]