Friday, March 9, 2012

Coding to the highest Level of Specificity

Coding to the highest Level of Specificity

Coding - Coding to the highest Level of Specificity

Hi friends. Now, I discovered Coding - Coding to the highest Level of Specificity. Which could be very helpful to me and you.

Insurance carriers often deny claims for not being coded to the top level of specificity. As many billers are not coders they often don't understand what has gone wrong or how to fix it.

What I said. It shouldn't be the final outcome that the real about Coding. You see this article for info on a person want to know is Coding.

Coding

If a assistance line is denied for this presume they are saying that the diagnosis code needs to be more specific. Some diagnosis codes are only three or four digits but many are five digits. The diagnosis must be coded to the absolute top level for that code, meaning the most whole of digits for the code being used.

For example, the diagnosis for hypertension begins with 401. Any way if you submit a cliam with the diagnosis 401 it will be denied. The code 401 requires a 4th digit. 401.0 is malignant considerable hypertension. 401.1 is benign considerable hypertension. 401.9 is unspecified considerable hypertension. So to bill a claim with a diagnosis of hypertension it must be whether 401.0, 401.1, or 401.9.

Another example of a diagnosis needing to be billed to a higher level of specificity would be diabetes. 250.0 indicates diabetes Any way you neeed a 5th digit to specify what type of diabetes. 250.00 is diabetes mellitus type two, 250.01 is diabetes mellitus type one (juvenile type), and 250.02 is diabetes mellitus type one uncontrolled and so on.

As you can see in the above example just putting 250.0 does not indicate specifically what the question is. Without the fifth digit the claim is lacking enough information to be processed and therefore will be denied.

If you are unsure if the diagnosis is coded to the top level of specificity you can look it up in an Icd9 code book or on the web. There are several websites with current Icd9 codes available. They will indicate if the code is coded to the top level.

Some custom management systems have scrubbers that will catch under coded diagnosis and give you a warning. Sometimes the biller may identify a truncated diagnosis (or a diagnosis requiring an additional digit.)

In whether case the biller should go back to the coder or victualer and ask them to be more definite with the diagnosis code so the claim can be resubmitted.

Copyright 2009 - Michele Redmond

I hope you get new knowledge about Coding. Where you may put to easy use in your evryday life. And above all, your reaction is passed about Coding. Read more.. Coding to the highest Level of Specificity.
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1 comment:

  1. Clinicians who must select ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes should use codes that provide the highest degree of accuracy and completeness, or the greatest specificity. That usually means providing an ICD-9-CM code carried to the 5th digit. Insurance carriers often deny claims for not being coded to the highest level of specificity.


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