3 Common Medical Coding Diagnosing Errors

Even the best of us make mistakes.

But this is especially true for medical coders, who can deal with literally thousands of codes each day.

A few of these codes are more prone to errors than others, however.

Here are three of them:

1. Timeframes

Is the condition acute or long-term/historical? This can change the condition and, as such, the code associated with the condition. For example, acute myocardial infarction requires different treatments and protocols than old myocardial infarction. Make sure you know the timeframes for the diagnosis codes you’re using.

2. Active vs. Old

Whether the patient is experiencing active or residual effects from their condition will impacting coding. In fact, one of the most commonly miscoded conditions is applying codes for a patient with a history of cerebral infarctions to a patient’s cerebral infarction with residual effects. Even the details matter with medical coding.

3. Chronic vs. Residual

Finally, the length of the condition will even impact the coding. Take acute deep vein thrombosis, for example. The treatment, notes and diagnosis for it are going to be different than for a patient with a history of deep vein thrombosis, right? The coding should follow suite.

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