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Rheumatology Coding Corner Answer: Coding for Acute Flare of Idiopathic Gout

From the College  |  Issue: December 2015  |  December 17, 2015

Take the challenge.

  1. M10.072—Acute gout has an Excludes 1 note of chronic gout (M1A.-). This means that acute gout and chronic gout cannot be coded for the same encounter, as the codes are mutually exclusive.
  2. M45.6—The patient is diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis of the lumbar region.
  3. M81.8—Other osteoporosis without current pathological fracture.
  4. M79.622—The patient has pain in his upper right arm. M79.602 is only pain in the right arm and not upper.
  5. M16.0, M19.011, M19.021, M19.031—There is an Excludes 1 note for bilateral involvement of a single joint (M16–M19). This means that if there is bilateral involvement of the hips (M16.0), knee (M17.0) or the first carpometacarpal joint (M18.0), then these diagnoses cannot be coded with M15.-, because the conditions are mutually exclusive.

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Filed under:Billing/CodingConditionsFrom the CollegeGout and Crystalline ArthritisPractice Support Tagged with:CodingCoding CornerDiagnosisGoutpatient carePractice ManagementrheumatologistTreatment

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