Wiki Medical Decision Making - How Many Diagnoses?

[kmartucci]

I work with an allergist who likes to count allergic rhinitis multiple times if the patient has multiple allergens in his number of diagnoses that he is treating. For example, he will document 477.0 - allergic rhinitis due to pollen, 477.2 - allergic rhinitis due to animal dander, and 477.8 - allergic rhinitis due to other allergen (dust). He will count this as three diagnoses that he is treating.

I feel allergic rhinitis should only be counted once, not multiples due to multiple allergens. The only treatment difference may be a discussion on enviromental controls - which would differ based on the allergen. What do you think?

 

[CatchTheWind]

I'm with you. I do not believe that the "problem points" are based on how many ICD-9 codes you have; it's how many problems the patient has. This patient has one problem: allergic rhinitis.