Q&A ICD-10 External Cause Codes Fed Mandate

[Cynie2016]

I am studying for my RHIT test in school, but the question regarding External Cause codes is confusing: On the GA Dept of Community Health site it states that the Feds require 3 mandatory external cause codes for UB-04 billing purposes, but our text states there is no federal mandates with ICD-10. Which is correct?

 

[RobertaP]

Hi Cynie2016,
Federal law supersedes as I am sure you know. Bring it to the attention of the publisher and the institution you will be testing with.
Which book are you using?
I am a CEHRS not RHIT, but that is my thought.
Good luck, Roberta Peppler

 

[RobertaP]

Cynie2016,
Will you post the link from GA please?

 

[Paul A]

There are no federal regulations requiring External Cause coding. If the state has a regulation requiring external cause codes then they are required. Even where its not required its strongly suggested to use the codes for statistical purposes.

 

[Carolyn Heath]

RobertaP, I tried to find the link that Cynthia2016 was talking about, but all I could find is two links: the main one to GA Dept of Community Health and GA ICD-10 FAQs. I will post both links and you are welcome to do more research.

- GA Dept of Community Health https://dch.georgia.gov/
- GA ICD-10 Revised Frequently Asked Questions http://dch.georgia.gov/sites/dch.georgia.gov/files/ICD-10 FAQ REVISED and FINAL 20151109 FOR POSTING.pdf

Hope this helps.