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Decoding I-10 Dilemmas

Published on 

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

 | Coding 

Dilemma:


An elderly female presented to the hospital with shortness of breath and chest pain. The patient was admitted and Acute Coronary Syndrome was ruled out.   The patient was also noted to have a Hematocrit of 26.4, Acute Renal Failure, Diabetes Mellitus, Hypothyroidism, and Diverticulosis with recent hemorrhage. The attending physician documented Anemia of Chronic Disease to be the reason for admission and the principal diagnosis. Can Anemia of Chronic Disease (D63.8) be sequenced as a principal diagnosis in this case?

 

Solution:


No, Anemia of Chronic Disease has been designated as a manifestation; therefore, D63.8 cannot be sequenced as a principal diagnosis. Coding instructions state to code the underlying disease first. Therefore, if the documentation of the cause of the anemia is not clear, then querying the physician is recommended.

Resource: ICD-10-CM Codebook, TruCode

Article Author:

This material was compiled to share information.  MMP, Inc. is not offering legal advice. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the information is accurate and useful.