tci General Surgery Coding Alert - 2004 Issue 3

3 Strategies Guide Your 'Late Effects' Coding

  Don't confuse late effects with complications: The two are not the same. "A complication describes a problem arising from a condition that still exits. A late effect on the other hand is caused by a condition no longer in its acute phase " Bucknam says. Certain conditions such as mal- or nonunion of fractures and scarring are inherent late effects regardless of when they occur. 2. Assign Late Effects as Secondary Diagnoses  When reporting late effects of an acute injury code the residual problem/condition as the primary diagnosis and record the appropriate late effects code as a...

To read the full article, sign in and subscribe to tci General Surgery Coding Alert.


Leverage vital, to-the-point monthly guidance to boost your reporting accuracy and your coding know-how. We make it convenient for your team to stay informed, compliant, and profitable with a subscription to TCI’s General Surgery Coding Alert.

  • Current newsletters added each month
  • Fully searchable archives - over 2100 articles
  • ALL years/issues back to 1999 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 General Surgery Coding 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.