Wiki which is the best code for non-acute pancreatitis?

[The Angel Of the South]

My practicode case documents "mild pancreatitis"; there is no specific code for mild. I see K86.1, chronic pancreatitis; but I really don't think I should use it, because the notes don't say it's chronic. So I thought perhaps K86.9--disease of pancreas, unspecified. The indications say:

A male who has been admitted for several days with evidence of thickened gallbladder and mildly elevated pancreatic enzymes.

(The other problem is acute cholecystitis, for which I coded K81.1.)

 

[sls314]

My practicode case documents "mild pancreatitis"; there is no specific code for mild. I see K86.1, chronic pancreatitis; but I really don't think I should use it, because the notes don't say it's chronic. So I thought perhaps K86.9--disease of pancreas, unspecified. The indications say:


(The other problem is acute cholecystitis, for which I coded K81.1.)

K85.90 is the default code for pancreatitis. That's the one you'd use if the provider diagnosed pancreatitis.

Did the documentation specify acute cholecystitis?

K81.1 is chronic cholecystitis. If the provider diagnosed acute cholecystitis, you'd use K81.0. If the provider just diagnosed "cholecystitis," K81.9.

 

[The Angel Of the South]

Okay. I either mis-coded the cholecystitis or made a typo in my first post, I'm not sure which; but I looked again and yes, it is acute. Oops. Putting that aside, it's the "mild pancreatitis" that puzzles me. I wonder whether I have taken "mild" too seriously; and I suspect I'm not thinking like a coder yet. (I'm still a CPC-A.)

Anyway, please continue to explain the K85.90, which I see is Acute pancreatitis without necrosis or infection, unspecified. So because there is no code for the mild pancreatitis in this case, I have no choice but to code "mild" pancreatitis as acute pancreatitis? ...Oh. I get it. "Pancreatitis NOS."