Primary Care Coding Alert

If coding urgent urination has stumped you, starting Oct. 1 you may be able to use 788.63 (Urgency of urination). The proposed rule for ICD-9 2004 contains this new sign and symptom code, as well as 120 new and revised codes.

After a commentary period ends, family physician codes may benefit from more diagnoses. For instance, ICD-9 may contain several new signs and symptoms codes, such as facial weakness (781.94) and decreased libido (799.81). If youve ever wondered which code to use for insulin pump training, V65.46 (Encounter for insulin pump training) may come in handy. Plus, ICD-9 may add a fifth digit to the prostatic hypertrophy codes, which would expand the series to without urinary obstruction (600.00, Hypertrophy [benign] prostate without urinary obstruction) and with urinary obstruction (600.01, Hypertrophy [benign] of prostate with urinary obstruction). And, if it is approved, youll definitely need to know the new influenza vaccine code (V04.81, Need for prophylactic vaccination and inoculation, influenza), which may require a fifth digit.

These changes and others, if finalized, will be effective Oct. 1, 2003. Watch for a commentary and a list of the pertinent family practice diagnostic codes for 2004 in the September Family Practice Coding Alert.