Wiki Bilateral Pain

[MPhillips77]

I work in a pain clinic and I see this diagnosis often (it doesn't matter which joint):

Bilateral Knee Pain (R>L)

Now, when I check the ICD 10 book, I see there are individual codes for right and left for the knees (or any other joint). However, when I check online, I can find that the same code (for example M25.561) under ICD 10 Data, states that you can use that code to mean bilaterally. I can't seem to find that in the book, however.

So which is right? Do I need to code both right and left for bilateral pain as the ICD 10 CM book says? Or do I just need to code one side or the other for bilateral pain? I have asked the other coder in my office and she doesn't know either.

Sometimes patients will have 15 diagnoses, so this would help shorten the amount we need to code. Thank you for all your help.

Melannie

 

[mhstrauss]

I work in a pain clinic and I see this diagnosis often (it doesn't matter which joint):

Bilateral Knee Pain (R>L)

Now, when I check the ICD 10 book, I see there are individual codes for right and left for the knees (or any other joint). However, when I check online, I can find that the same code (for example M25.561) under ICD 10 Data, states that you can use that code to mean bilaterally. I can't seem to find that in the book, however.

So which is right? Do I need to code both right and left for bilateral pain as the ICD 10 CM book says? Or do I just need to code one side or the other for bilateral pain? I have asked the other coder in my office and she doesn't know either.

Sometimes patients will have 15 diagnoses, so this would help shorten the amount we need to code. Thank you for all your help.

Melannie

If the patient has bilateral knee pain, you'll need to code both left and right. The only exception would be for the joints that have a specific "bilateral" option. I do see where ICD10data has bilateral listed as synonyms for the left and right pain, but I'm not sure why, as these are not interchangeable. The book is the place to go for correct guidelines. I have used that site quite a few times since the ICD10 conversion came about, and I do think it is a good resource, but every now and then I come across something like this on that just makes me wonder where they're getting their info!

HTH!