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Pulmonology Coding Alert

READER QUESTIONS:

Don't Forget To Report Steroid Therapy History

Published on Wed Aug 26, 2009

Question: I see that ICD-9 2010 introduced a new code for personal history of inhaled steroid therapy (V87.44) -- could you give a scenario when I might use this code? North Carolina Subscriber Answer: Good question! Many pulmonologists may forget to add this code on those patients receiving inhaled corticosteroids. You could conceivably report V87.44 (Personal history of inhaled steroid therapy) on any asthmatic or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient receiving inhaled steroid therapy. Remember to use the asthma (493.xx) or COPD (491.20) codes before listing the V code. Example: You might assign a stable asthmatic a code sequence of 493.00 and V87.44, in addition to any other codes that affected the patient's health, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD, 530.81) or hypertension (404.1). Similarly, for a patient with COPD, you would report 491.20 and V87.44. Using the V code would justify the need for laboratory or other diagnostic testing [...]
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