Health Information Management

Perspectives on chronic left ventricular heart failure

APCs Weekly Monitor, June 19, 2009

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Selecting a code for a patient with heart failure was fairly straightforward; fewer codes existed for the condition, and those available weren’t as specific.
 
This was helpful because coders needed less information from physicians to make accurate code selections. However, the codes lacked something from a data accuracy and specificity perspective.
 
Coders continue to report ICD-9-CM code 428.0, congestive heart failure (CHF), unspecified, when they should, but they now have many more options for specificity.  Understanding the intricacies of heart failure, including the myriad potential causes of the condition, as well as the difference between acute and chronic, and systolic and diastolic heart failure, is crucial. It’s equally important for physicians to provide detailed documentation.
 
Continue reading“Perspectives on chronic left ventricular heart failure” on the HCPro Web site. Briefings on Coding Compliance Strategies subscribers have free access to this article in their June issue.



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