A hearty helping of ICD-10

on December 2nd, 2011   by Kim Felix

ICD-10-CM defines an acute myocardial infarction as one with a stated duration of 4 weeks (28 days) or less from its onset.  This is different from ICD-9-CM which was defined as 8 weeks.  Also, a code for a ‘subsequent’ MI is to be used when a patient who has suffered an acute MI has a NEW acute AMI within the 4 week time frame from the initial acute MI.   Again, this is very different from ICD-9 guidelines which used subsequent MI to designate an episode of care following the initial episode when a patient is admitted for further observation, evaluation or treatment for an MI that has received initial treatment, but is still less than 8 weeks old.  Confusing, huh? 

*This is an important one to understand since it is so different from what we are used to in ICD-9-CM.