Wiki Follow up visit

[LISAGASHO]

I would like anyones opinion on this. We are a family pracitice resident clinic. We see many patients for follow ups from ER visits.

The most recent patient was a child that came in for a follow up to an ear infection. The ER prescribed antibiotics. The patient finished medication and came into our office to follow up. The ear infection was resolved when they came in. The resident used ICD-9 code V67.9. follow up exam. I am thinking we should use ICD-9 code for the ear infection as this was what the reason for the visit was.

Does anyone else have experience with this? Any info would be helpful.

Thanks,

Lisa Gasho, CPC

 

[Elizabeth83]

I think v67.59- following other treatment- would be appropriate, since the infection has cleared from the antibiotics. I have to use this code range a lot as well, and I never get denials from the insurance company.

Sarah, CPC

 

[singlemisfit]

I would use the ear infection code as well as you didn't provide the treatment and the follow up code might lead to questioning if your services should be included in some global service that you did not initiate. I know typically you code what you assess at the time, but there are exceptions to this rule. For example: If you are coding for a test-of-cure visit after a treatment of a sexually transmitted disease, you typically code the disease for this visit (not knowing if it is still present or not) until laboratory analysis comes back with culture results.