Wiki What does "comma" in an index entry mean?

[MaranaJay]

Hypothyroidism has a subentry for subclinical, iodine-deficiency related. Thrombocytosis, essential is an entry. Do the terms after the comma need to be documented/part of the diagnostic statement? I haven't found an official ICD-10 convention for this. AAPC seems to think the terms should be documented.

 

[thomas7331]

The comma does not have any designated meaning in ICD-10, but terms that are not required to be documented ('non-essential modifiers' in ICD-10 terminology) are indicated by parentheses in the alphabetic index, not by a comma. So for example, under hypertension, 'essential' is in parentheses so does not have to be documented. 'Essential' under thrombocyctosis, however, is not in parenthesis, so I would agree with your reference that in this case the term should be documented in order to assign that code.