Obviously as a coder-our priority is to be as precise as possible, but unfortunately I have found that physicians usually aren't.
Its becoming more and more of a gray area for me, so I'm hoping someone can help.
(Localized, Generalized, Primary/Secondary)
I'm trying to make sense out of these, please:
Lets say the physician gives a DX of OA of the acromioclavicular joint.
I feel that the physician is LOCALIZING the OA to a specified part of the shoulder. So, this should be a localized DX. Hence, 715.36.
And IF the physician gave the DX of OA to the shoulder (GENERALIZED), would this still be the same??
I almost feel like there should be a GENERALIZed code for this, like 715.01. (wishful thinking).
I feel like I am looking into the terms Localized and Generalized way too much, or maybe what I think they mean is completely off.
But I feel like for most of the time, i would be using 715.36.
I can be very confusing, I apologize ahead of time, I'm hoping someone can understand my dilemma.
Thank you in advance.
YOGIJAC
Its becoming more and more of a gray area for me, so I'm hoping someone can help.
(Localized, Generalized, Primary/Secondary)
I'm trying to make sense out of these, please:
Lets say the physician gives a DX of OA of the acromioclavicular joint.
I feel that the physician is LOCALIZING the OA to a specified part of the shoulder. So, this should be a localized DX. Hence, 715.36.
And IF the physician gave the DX of OA to the shoulder (GENERALIZED), would this still be the same??
I almost feel like there should be a GENERALIZed code for this, like 715.01. (wishful thinking).
I feel like I am looking into the terms Localized and Generalized way too much, or maybe what I think they mean is completely off.
But I feel like for most of the time, i would be using 715.36.
I can be very confusing, I apologize ahead of time, I'm hoping someone can understand my dilemma.
Thank you in advance.
YOGIJAC