Not only is wound coding and documentation is a daunting task, but also attracts intense inspection from auditors, with severe financial penalties for mistakes. And it’s only gotten more challenging with the new ICD-10 changes.
What is included in the wound care billing guidelines 2019?
An infected surgical wound, T81.4xxA, is among those 51 codes that are set to be deleted.
Now the coders will have only 15 additional codes added to an expanded T81.4- subcategory. This will give accurate reporting of the depth of the infection.
For instance, the coders will have the knack to specify whether the surgical wound infection is affecting the superficial incision surgical site i.e. T81.41-, the deep incisional surgical site i.e. T81.42-, or the organ and space surgical site i.e. T81.43-.
In wound care billing guidelines 2019; other surgical sites and unspecified options are also available i.e.T81.49- as well as T81.40-.
The new wound care billing guidelines codes T81.41-, T81.42- and T81.43- will receive additional inclusion terms to help guide coders to the appropriate code choice. Subcutaneous abscess following a procedure and Stitch abscess following a procedure will be sited at T81.41-.
Three new codes have been included in 2019 ICD-10-CM to uniquely capture post-procedural sepsis, T81.44- i.e. Sepsis following a procedure, with seventh character options A, D, or S. Furthermore, the tabular instruction to use additional code to identify the sepsis is added to the new post-procedural sepsis code T81.44.
Moreover, many of the new codes added to the 2019 ICD-10 code set are external cause codes to be used to describe the exploitation of children and adults in the form of psychological abuse, forced sexual exploitation, bullying, or labor exploitation. This includes T76.51xD i.e. adult forced sexual exploitation, suspected, subsequent encounter, and Z91.42 i.e. Personal history of forced labor or sexual exploitation.
It is important that all coding professionals review the changes to 2019 ICD-10-CM to ensure they do not experience rejected claims and a potential loss to cash flow. MBC will be providing valuable information about 2019 ICD-10-CM to help you ensure coding accuracy and safeguard your agency. Click here for more information and to register.
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