Primary Care Coding Alert

Descriptors will add a fourth digit to specify location.Under the current ICD-9-CM code set, you turn to 473.x (Chronic sinusitis) for patients suffering from chronic infection of sinus if the symptoms persist despite two or more months' treatment. ICD difference: Effective Oct. 1, 2013, you'll choose from the following ICD-10 codes with the prefix "J" 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. The only addition lies in subcategory J32.4 for chronic pansinusitis, which is currently not available under ICD-9.Documentation: When the family physician diagnoses chronic sinusitis, she should note the patient's symptoms of the chronic sinusitis (such as difficulty breathing through the nose, swollen area of the eyes and face, and throbbing facial pain or a headache). Notes regarding [...]