Don’t worry Barbie. There’s an IDC-10 for that squirrel encounter!
Today, October 1, 2015, is the day that doctors have to switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 diagnosis codes. Up until today, we doctors had to rely on a mere 18,000 ICD-9 codes to describe patient diagnoses. Doctors rely on these mandatory codes for reimbursement from insurance companies. Years ago, when I was doing a lot of insurance work, I had many of these codes memorized. A couple of examples of ICD-9 codes I used a lot were 611.1 for overly large breasts, 173.30 for skin cancer and 873.50 for a gnarly dog bite to the face.
The new federally mandated version, ICD-10 expands the number of codes to around from 18.000 to 140,000 codes. That’s a lot of codes!
Here are a few examples I might possibly need to use for cases I see in the emergency room when I am on call: Walked into a lamppost, initial encounter W22.02XA. And if that patient walks into the lamppost again, ICD-10 has it covered: “Walked into a lamppost, subsequent encounter, W22.02XD. And for that occasional patient who suffers a burn while waterskiing: V91.07XA. I occasionally treat animal bites and in the bird department I am covered. There are 72 codes which cover ducks, macaws, parrots, geese, turkeys and chickens. And if the chicken bite occurs in a chicken coop, there is an add on code for that! And if it’s a squirrel bite, of course there is a code. But what is it something other than a bite? There’s a code for “other encounter with a squirrel.” Doesn’t that just make your imagination run wild???
And sometimes, I’ll see a patient late at night in the ER who along with their chicken bite and/or lamp post injury presents with a bizarre personal appearance (R46.1) and/or a very low level of personal hygiene (R46.0). I hope they don’t take it personally because in the middle of the night, both those codes just may apply to me!
I have to keep reminding myself that the feds who mandate this stuff are from the government and they are here to help. Sometimes I just have to scratch my head. I wonder if there is a code for that??????
Disclosure: I borrowed heavily form an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Anna Wilde Mathews for this topic.
Thanks for reading! Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder
@lisalynnsowder
