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I work for a neurosurgeon and he is dictating that the patients diagnosis is "cranial defect". I am having a hard time figuring out how to code that. Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.
Depends on if it is acquired, which most of them are, or congenital. If it is due to a fracture, i would look at the fracture codes and/or 738.10 if it is congenital, look at 754.0, 756.0.
This is an opportunity to train your physician to be more specific. Insurance carriers are ever more attentive to the details of diagnosis when deciding whether to cover treatment (or whether something is excluded from their plans). Also, ICD-10 is around the corner and will require a much higher level of specificity than most physicians are used to providing today.