Ask the Expert

This month’s selection:

Any advice on how to best capture the codes for the novel coronavirus?

Anonymous

Response:

The new, scary variety is deemed “Novel 1 coronavirus.” There is more than one coronavirus; the regular kind is one of the viruses that cause the common cold. This new critter doesn’t yet have its own specific code.

It’s hard to find the coronavirus codes from the index alone; you have to know exactly what the virus causes. 3M software is more user-friendly.

B34.2, Coronavirus infection, unspecified

Pneumonia due to coronavirus influenza takes two codes; if the patient has “pneumonia due to coronavirus” but without related influenza, you only need the second code.

J10.08, Influenza due to other identified influenza with other specified pneumonia
J12.81, Pneumonia due to SARS-associated coronavirus

B97.21, SARS-associated coronavirus as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere

B97.29, Other coronavirus as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere

This new superbug is “2019-nCoV” per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; some news stations are reporting it as the Wuhan Coronavirus after the city where it was first detected. I’ve seen it called 2019 Novel (meaning “new”) Coronavirus too.

— Judy Sturgeon, CCS, CCDS, CICA, is the clinical coding/reimbursement compliance manager at Harris County Hospital District in Houston and a contributing editor at For The Record.