tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert - 2010 Issue 7

Reader Questions: Choose Between 917.8, 917.9 for Toe Tourniquet

Question: The physician removed a "hair tourniquet" of human hair wound tightly around a patient's third and fourth toes. There was no injury, but the toes were very red and swollen. What diagnosis should we code?Connecticut SubscriberAnswer: Your best choice is 917.8 (Other and unspecified superficial injury of foot and toes without mention of infection). If the tourniquet led to infection, change to 917.9 (Other an unspecified superficial injury of foot and toes, infected). The ICD-9 index lists hair tourniquet under "syndrome," which then leads you to "superficial injury by site" and 917.8 or...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert.


You have ED coding questions, and we deliver money-in-the-bank answers to help you defeat your claim issues and secure optimal reimbursement.

Stay in the know and avoid federal reproach with your subscription to TCI’s ED Coding and Reimbursement Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1998 organized by year and issue
  • Codes mentioned in articles are linked to Code Information pages
  • Code Information pages link back to related articles
Access to this feature is available in the following products:
  • tci ED Coding & Reimbursement Alert +Archives

demo
request yours today
 subscribe
start today
 newsletter
free subscription

Thank you for choosing Find-A-Code, please Sign In to remove ads.