RE: ICD9 Alert! Hematuria no longer valid

[Guest guest]

What a great example of the meaningless

minutia we are subject to…

A. Eads, M.D.

Pinnacle Family Medicine, PLLC

phone fax

P.O.

Box 7275

Woodland Park, CO 80863

www.PinnacleFamilyMedicine.com

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of T. , MD

Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009

9:42 PM

To:

Subject:

ICD9 Alert! Hematuria no longer valid

I just had my

first bounced claim for 599.7, one of my favorite ICD9 codes. Evidently,

they retired it in October.

Now, if you want

to put down a diagnosis of hematuria, you have to be more specific.

The choices are:

Hematuria, unspecified:

599.70

Hematuria,

gross

599.71

Hematuria,

microscopic:

599.72

I am not quite

sure how in the big picture of things this will improve the quality of care we

all provide, and I am sure that most of you on the list have already made this

change and were well-aware of this, because you check the CMS web site every

day to catch these things, but for those of us on the list like me, who

tend to be reactive rather than proactive, this is just a “heads

up.”

And for the very

bright people on the list who do not take any insurance, I am sure this

makes no difference at all.

I wonder how many

hundreds of thousands of claims will be delayed payment due to this?

dts

[Guest guest]

thanks for the heads up, i agree w marty, we do need to know for labs, etc. but i do worry about people with " favorite " icd-9 codes. have you sought help? (i mean besides this support group?)

tac

I just had my first bounced claim for 599.7, one of my favorite ICD9 codes. Evidently, they retired it in October.

Now, if you want to put down a diagnosis of hematuria, you have to be more specific.

The choices are:

Hematuria, unspecified: 599.70

Hematuria, gross 599.71

Hematuria, microscopic: 599.72

I am not quite sure how in the big picture of things this will improve the quality of care we all provide, and I am sure that most of you on the list have already made this change and were well-aware of this, because you check the CMS web site every day to catch these things, but for those of us on the list like me, who tend to be reactive rather than proactive, this is just a "heads up."

And for the very bright people on the list who do not take any insurance, I am sure this makes no difference at all.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of claims will be delayed payment due to this?

dts

-- Crowley, MD

Family MedicineCape May Courthouse NJPatients, please allow up to 48 hours for response. If you are having an urgent problem please go to the emergency department or call 911. If you have a problem or question that can't wait 48 hours, or you have not received a timely response, just call the office at 465-0882.

[Guest guest]

,

The fact is, this support group is pretty darn good. I doubt I

could find another group or psychotherapist that could match it.

dts

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of

Crowley

Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 5:34 AM

To:

Subject: Re: ICD9 Alert! Hematuria no longer

valid

thanks for the heads up, i agree w marty, we do need to know

for labs, etc. but i do worry about people with " favorite " icd-9

codes. have you sought help? (i mean besides this support group?)

tac

On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 11:41 PM, T. , MD

wrote:

I just had my first bounced claim for 599.7, one of

my favorite ICD9 codes. Evidently, they retired it in October.

Now, if you want to put down a diagnosis of

hematuria, you have to be more specific.

The choices are:

Hematuria, unspecified:

599.70

Hematuria,

gross

599.71

Hematuria,

microscopic:

599.72

I am not quite sure how in the big picture of

things this will improve the quality of care we all provide, and I am sure that

most of you on the list have already made this change and were well-aware of

this, because you check the CMS web site every day to catch these things, but

for those of us on the list like me, who tend to be reactive rather than

proactive, this is just a " heads up. "

And for the very bright people on the list who do

not take any insurance, I am sure this makes no difference at all.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of claims

will be delayed payment due to this?

dts

--

Crowley, MD

Family Medicine

Cape May Courthouse NJ

Patients, please allow up to 48 hours for response. If you are having an urgent

problem please go to the emergency department or call 911. If you have a

problem or question that can't wait 48 hours, or you have not received a timely

response, just call the office at 465-0882.