Provide your agency’s intake employees with a brief multiple-choice quiz in order to determine their knowledge level in advance of ICD-10’s Oct. 1 implementation. Here are some of the questions you should ask, advises Diane Link, president of home health and hospice consulting company Link Healthcare Advantage in Littlestown, Pa.
1. Sepsis is:
a. Infection of blood system
b. Complication of an infection elsewhere in the body
c. Elevated white blood cell count
Answer: B
ICD-10 requires the clinician to code the underlying systemic infection. For example, if the sepsis is related to a urinary tract infection, you would need to start your ICD-10 code search with cystitis.
2. A patient is taking Coumadin as prescribed by the physician and is admitted to your agency with an elevated prothrombin time. The disorder should be diagnosed as:
a. Poisoning
b. Adverse effect
c. Toxic effect
Answer: B
An adverse effect should be coded if the patient is correctly prescribed medication and is compliant with the medication. Poisoning should be coded when improper medication is prescribed or used for example overdose of medication, wrong substance or taken by error. Toxic effect is a result of a harmful substance ingested or comes in contact with a person for example inhalation of chemical.