Posted on Friday, June 22, 2018 7:07 PM
By Mary Deakle, BCHH-C, COS-C Senior Manager of Compliance and Education
The FY2019 ICD-10-CM changes were released on June 11th. 615 code changes will take effect on October 1st 2018. These changes include 279 new codes, 285 revised codes and 51 code deletions.
The most exciting change to the code set for home care includes the expansion of the current subcategory for Infection following a procedure (T81.4- ). This expansion will allow coders to capture more specific types of post-operative infections such as: Sepsis following procedure (T81.44-), superficial (T81.41-), deep (T81.42-), organ and space (T81.443-) and other (T81.49-) surgical site infections. These new codes will also require a 7th character of A, D or S just like the current post-procedural infection code. It is important to note that the current commonly used code T81.4xx- will no longer be a valid code choice following this update.
These new codes will include specific inclusion terms to help lead the coder to the most specific code for each coding scenario. I look forward to seeing more detailed documentation to support the use of these new codes says Mary Deakle, BCHH-C, COS-C, Manager of Compliance and Education at Corridor Coding Services.
FY2019 ICD-10 also brings us 45 new codes to identify specific types of neoplasm of the eyelid and 4 new codes for types of cerebrovascular disease. There were 285 codes that received revisions to the tabular descriptions and/or instructions.
For a full list of all FY2019 changes, click here.
About Corridor
Corridor is the nation’s preferred partner and trusted business advisor to home health and hospice providers, providing quality services and impactful results for 30 years. Focusing on key operational, regulatory and financial challenges, Corridor delivering industry-unique solutions and deep expertise in coding, clinical documentation review, compliance, billing and collections , consulting and provider staff education . At Corridor, we make the business of caring for people Better! For the most important industry updates and news that impacts home health and hospice, please make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive the latest up-to-date industry information direct to your inbox!
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