As you may already know, something very important to the field of medicine is medical coding. And if you didn’t already know, medical coding is defined as the transformation of healthcare diagnoses, procedures, medical services, and equipment into universal medical alphanumeric codes. The purpose of medical coding is to help make the billing process easier, as typing a code is a lot quicker than typing out a whole procedure and everything used in it. With the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been several additions to the language of medical coding. The codes were urgently added prior to the standard addition of codes so the World Health Organization (WHO) could follow statistics with positive cases. Below, we’ve listed some of the most notable additions that are relevant to COVID-19. Check it out!
ICD-10 Code Set
A completely new set of ICD-10 codes was put into place for COVID-19 this year. They are written as follows:
- U07.1
- Applied when there is a confirmed case of COVID-19
- B34.2
- Unspecified Coronavirus infection
- B97.29
- Additional diagnosis for a different respiratory sickness that is caused due to COVID-19
- Z03.818
- When a patient had a possible exposure, but is ruled out after testing
- Z20.828
- Used when a patient has been in contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19
- Z11.59
- Used when a patient is being tested due to exposure, but results are negative or inconclusive
These codes were established and published by the World Health Organization. As you can see there are plenty of new codes for you to learn as a result of this pandemic, and these are just the codes related to only the disease.
CPT Codes
In skiing, one of the most common injuries that occurs is a ligament tear in your knees. This can include a tear of the MCL, PCL, LCL and most commonly the ACL. Often times what causing a tear of the ligaments in your knees are losing control of yourself while skiing and crashing. It pretty easy to tear them when you lose control because your skis and boots are so much heavier than what you’re used to. Many professional skiers in preparation for the season will focus on riding a stationary bike. The stationary bike is important in ligament tear prevention because it strengthens all the muscles around your knee. Having stronger muscles surrounding the knees help to mitigate the risk of your leg being jerked and the ligament torn. However, if you’ve already experienced tear in your knee, the stationary bike also works very well for rehabilitation.
CPT codes are codes that are used to identify services and procedures done by medical professionals. The AMA has established and published a new set of CPT codes for COVID-19 that have to do with testing and procedures, and are as follows:
- 87635
- Infectious agent detected by DNA or RNA-(COVID-19 detected)
- 99000
- Transfer of the COVID-19 test specimen from the testing facility to where results are found (Laboratory)
- 99001
- Transfer of COVID-19 test specimen from anywhere besides a testing facility to the laboratory
- U0001
- Used for Real Time RT-PCR Diagnostic Test Panel
- U0002
- Used for laboratory tests that are not CDC recommended
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many new codes that will have to be learned by medical professionals. It’s important to stay on top of coding language not only as a medical coder, but also as a medical professional in general. If you’re interested in medical coding, be sure to contact Idaho Medical Academy! We have American Academy of Professional Coders trained to teach course materials to prepare students to take and pass the National Certified Professional Coder examination. Contact us today with any questions you have about medical coding or the medical field in general!
