Spinal Stenosis Icd 9
Spinal Stenosis Icd 9To the average person, the acronym ICD really doesn't mean anything, except perhaps something about their compact disc collection. But to the medical billing specialist, ICD 9 means the 9th edition of the International Classification of Diseases. Spinal stenosis ICD 9 simply means that you can find the correct codes for all types of spinal stenosis in the ICD9 publication. The ICD is a publication of the World Health Organization. If you work in medical billing, you will have in depth knowledge of this, as it is used by every insurance company and the codes for each specific illness or syndrome are required before the insurance company will authorize payment to a doctor. The ICD 9 consists of three volumes. Volume 1 and 2 contain diagnosis codes and Volume 3 contains procedure codes. In other words, if the diagnosis is spinal stenosis, the billing clerk would enter the number 724.0; but the insurance company will also want to know what procedure (if any) was done. Let's say a laminectomy was performed; the clerk will enter 03.09 - and that will tell the insurance company that a laminectomy was done, as opposed to a spinal fusion. The ICD codes are broken down into very specific classifications - the 700 classification covers all diagnoses related to the spine. Much like the Dewey Decimal system, there are subcategories and more subcategories and locating codes can be quite bewildering. Other ICD codes cover such diagnoses as spondylosis (immobility and fusion of vertebral joints due to osteoarthritis), or kyphosis (abnormal curvature of the spine such as a hunchback or widow's hump). The ICD 9 code for spondylosis is 721; kyphosis is 737.41 - not to be confused with kyphosis due to radiation (737.11). If a patient requires a support brace to alleviate pain and maintain correct posture or give therapeutic support to the vertebrae affected by severe spinal stenosis, the ICD 9 code would read this way: L0627. This code is very specific as to the purpose of a lumbar support brace and what the component parts are. The average patient would probably get lost in the bewildering array of diagnosis and procedure codes, but this is another area where it pays the consumer to be educated. The diagnosis codes for spinal stenosis in the ICD 9 are quite specific and if the wrong code is input on the patient's bill, this can result in nonpayment of the claim by the insurance company. Let's say that you have spinal stenosis of the neck; you will look this up in the ICD and you will find that the code is 723.0, for spinal stenosis of the cervical region. You will require a neck (or cervical) brace - that code is L0140 (cervical, semi-rigid, adjustable plastic collar). Good luck to you! |