ICD-10-CM Updates For 2017: Get Clarity to Stay On Top

I’m sure that all of you remember the looming transition to ICD-10-CM, and how it was akin to the madness of Y2K. It was crazy. But now that the frenzy has settled, it’s time to ask yourself, have you become complacent?

The transition has been largely successful and even though it’s only been a few years, it’s more important than ever to avoid being locked into potentially outdated guidelines. We’re coders, we’re auditors, we like to be precise, to stay on top. So, now that you’ve gotten comfortable with the broader changes, it’s time to dig deeper with the 2017 update, which clarifies some of the nuances of ICD-10-CM.

For example, codes from category O09, supervision of high risk pregnancy, are only used during the prenatal period. For complications during the labor or delivery episode, as a result of a high risk pregnancy, assign complication codes from Chapter 15 (O codes). If there are no complications during labor or delivery, assign O80, encounter for full-term uncomplicated delivery.

In addition, the new updates cover new code assignment and clinical criteria for:

• Hypertensive crisis
• Diabetes for longterm use of oral hypoglycemic drugs
• Supervision of high-risk pregnancy
• Zika virus
• Abnormal findings

Tune into our upcoming webinar, What the 2017 ICD-10 Code Book Is Missing, to stay current and learn the new code assignment and clinical criteria.