4 Diagnostic Coding: Introduction to ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM Lecture 3

4.8 Official Coding Guidelines 4-24 ICD-9-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting—American Hospital Association publication that provides rules for selecting and sequencing diagnosis codes Includes three key coding guidelines: 1.Code the primary diagnosis first, followed by current coexisting conditions 2.Code to the highest degree of certainty, never coding inconclusive, rule-out diagnoses 3.Code to the highest level of specificity, using fifth digits or fourth digits when available

4.8 Official Coding Guidelines (Continued) 4-25 Acute—illness or condition featuring severe symptoms and a short duration Chronic—illness or condition with a long duration Late effect—condition that remains after an acute illness or injury

4.9 Introducing ICD-10-CM 4-26 ICD-10-CM—abbreviated title of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification – Differences from ICD-9-CM include chapter structure, chapter order, code structure, increased specificity and clinical detail, and excludes notes Crosswalk—map of codes for same or similar classifications under two coding systems