You Be the Coder:
Do Not Include Degenerative Diagnoses with Trauma Indications
Published on Tue Oct 17, 2017
Question: A patient receives a CT scan of the lumbar spine after trauma from a fall. The provider documents a fracture of the L2 vertebrae in addition to spondylosis and spondylolisthesis of the L3-L4 joint. I coded this encounter as S32.209A, M47.816, and M46.16. Is this correct? Texas Subscriber Answer: The indicating diagnosis, also known as the presenting diagnosis, plays a very [...]