Wiki age related brain atrophy

[boozaarn]

I was advised not to use this dx from radiology impression on a 80 y/o patient as it is an "age related" condition...and not an abnormal finding...
to my understanding in elderly age all degenerative processes are age related chronic conditions... so why degenerative joint can be coded but degenerative brain not?

any insights?

Thanks

me
CPC-H

 

[cblack712]

I questioned this once to an instructor and this is what I was told ~ Age related brain conditions are not codable unless they are causing a problem - which is hard if not nearly impossible to prove. Since all individuals brains are expected to undergo some sort of degeneration it would be a normal finding on a xray. The only time that it would be codable is if there is more than expected degeneration to be seen for the patients age.
You would be able to code the degeneration of a joint because that does cause problems - such as pain and would be able to be fixed.
I hope that makes some sense!