ICD-10 is Giving Me Heartache

on September 9th, 2011   by Kim Felix

Goodbye coding clinics and hello combination codes! In our last blog post we visited the new combination codes for diabetes mellitus. Another area rich in combination codes is Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and Angina.

In I-10 coders will use combination codes for CAD (Also called atherosclerotic heart disease) with angina pectoris. When you use these combination codes it is NOT necessary to use an additional code for the angina pectoris, like coders now do in I-9. As in other combination codes in I-10, a causal relationship is assumed with CAD and angina pectoris. That is, unless of course, the angina is due to something other than the atherosclerosis.

These combination codes will eliminate many of the coding clinics that were needed in ICD-9-CM for sequencing. The combination code identifies the disease process (CAD) and its manifestation (angina) all in one code.  Again, as we saw in diabetes, one longer code but fewer total codes.

For Example:

I25.1     Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery

I25.10   Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery without angina pectoris

I25.11   Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery with angina pectoris

I25.110 Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery with unstable angina      pectoris

I25.111 Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery with angina pectoris with documented spasm

I25.118 Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery with other forms of angina pectoris

I25.119 Atherosclerotic heart disease of native coronary artery with unspecified angina pectoris