Posts by Natalie Sartori

With the current ICD-10-CM code set, there is no specific code corresponding to non-traumatic myocardial injury. Given the high severity of illness typical of patients with non-ischemic myocardial injury, appropriate classification of these patients is paramount in terms of aligning appropriate diagnostic and treatment strategies while avoiding inappropriate approaches that would otherwise be suggested by…

Intestinal metaplasia (IM) occurs when cells in the tissues of the upper digestive tract, often in the stomach or esophagus, change and become more like cells from the intestines. Intestinal metaplasia in the esophagus is also called Barrett’s esophagus. Intestinal metaplasia is more common in people who have chronic acid reflux or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The…

There are currently no unique ICD-10-PCS codes to describe the noninvasive measurement of flow through a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt. Hydrocephalus is a debilitating neurological disorder that results from the overproduction and/or impaired reabsorption of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricles of the brain. Hydrocephalus affects over 1 million people in the United States alone….

Click the button below to download a PDF of Natalie Sartori’s Lunch and Learn, “Spinal Fusions Advanced Applications.”

Currently, there is no unique ICD-10-PCS code to identify the use of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) to treat calcified lesions in the coronary arteries. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation is the most frequent mode of coronary revascularization. Advanced age and an increasing frequency of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and renal insufficiency contribute to…

Overview: The fiscal year 2022 ICD-10-PCS code set updates [1] address the lack of a specific code for vertebral body tethering performed in the treatment of scoliosis. Scoliosis is a condition that manifests in a significant number of skeletally immature patients annually and is generally defined as an abnormal curvature of the spine greater than…

On June 4th, 2021, CMS released the 2022 ICD-10 Procedure Coding System (ICD-10-PCS) updates. These codes will be applied beginning with discharges on October 1, 2021. The updated ICD-10-PCS codes contain 191 new codes, 62 revised titles, and 107 deleted codes, bringing the 2022 ICD-10-PCS code set total to 78,220. The leading code changes by…

On April 27th CMS released the 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule.[1] One of the most significant changes proposed for the V39 MS-DRG grouper logic includes changes to the severity level designation for unspecified codes. Recall for FY 2020, CMS proposed changes to the severity designation for 1,492 ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes which was…

On April 27th CMS released the FY 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule.[1] The proposal describes 127 new ICD-10-PCS codes, with a majority of the changes in the Surgery section. The Table below presents an outline of proposed changes to the surgery section by body system. In addition to the 79 new codes…

On April 27th CMS released the FY 2022 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule.[1] The Table below provides an outline of 153 proposed new ICD-10-CM codes, distributed across several chapters. Notable highlights for the proposed ICD-10-CM changes include new codes for: Immune effector cell associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) in category G92. ICANS is a clinical…