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Radiology Coding Alert

You Be the Coder:

788.0 and 599.71 for Kidney Stone?

Published on Sat Nov 06, 2010

Question: When we perform a CT scan for a patient with flank pain and hematuria, and the radiologist diagnoses kidney stones, are we required to report the symptoms as well as the final  diagnosis?Oklahoma SubscriberAnswer: No. You are not required to report symptoms in addition to a definitive diagnosis.In the case you describe, you should report the kidney stones (592.0, Calculus of kidney) instead of 788.0 (Renal colic) for the flank pain and 599.71 (Gross hematuria).Rule: ICD-9 official guidelines indicate that you should not assign additional codes for signs and symptoms routinely associated with a disease process, unless ICD-9 instructs you otherwise for that code (Section 1.B.7, www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/icd9/icdguide10.pdf).
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