Wiki Clarification on the 1 year Grace period for ICD-10

[jlent]

Medicare is allowing a 1 year grace period for use of unspecific codes. In the LCD's for Diagnostic Testing alot of the non-specific codes have been removed. Will the Unspecified Code still be paid if in fact it is not listed on the LCD at all now or will it be covered if it is listed in the same "family" as the covered diagnosis codes on the LCD?

 

[aciardelli]

Hi Jlent,

If a code has an LCD or NCD, one of the specified dx codes has to be used. Per CMS they still want you to code to the highest specificity per the documentation when possible. I have had a lot of questions on this and I don't think they worded it correctly.

Ashley Ciardelli, CPC