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As we learn we the use of new codes can help in describing the laterality. Here what I mean to say is to have separate codes for right, left or bilateral for any diagnosis. So, with the new icd 10 we will be using codes which will specify the laterality and help in coding more specific diagnosis. Now, we all know how we use to code glaucoma in icd 9. The icd 9 code for acute angle closure glaucoma is 365.22. But if you this code in icd 10 we have separate code for each side of eye and as well as single code for bilateral side. This is also one of the reason we have a significant amount of codes in icd10 compared to icd9. So if we check the new codes used for the glaucoma coding it will as below from category H40.21:
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With the implementation of ICD 10 in 2015, we are now going to use these codes in future. Since, we were using ICD-9 CM codes for long time we always like to compare with ICD-10 codes. There are not many changes as long as the guidelines are considered. Yes, with the number of codes and use of alphanumeric codes, there is certainly a major difference between ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis codes. So, we will checkout the basic differences between these two versions of diagnosis codes. Checkout my previous post on coding ICD 10 for unilateral and bilateral diagnosis codes to learn more about new codes.
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