ture or late effect.
There are questions as to why codes Y92.9 (unspecified place or not
applicable), Y93.9 (activity, unspecified) and Y99.9 (unspecified exter-
nal cause status) exist if ICD-10-CM guidelines specifically state not to
use them. Think of these as "placeholder" codes in the event that their
use becomes further clarified later on. These categories are only used
at the initial encounter for treatment, so it is not necessary to report
these additional codes on subsequent visits for the same injury.
Bringing it all together
We can now go back to our initial example of a patient slipping and
falling, causing an acute right anterior cruciate ligament sprain.
Imagine if this scenario had been further specified in the surgeon's
notes, stating this is a workers' compensation case where the patient
was constructing a building, slipped, fell and hit his knee on a belt
sander, which caused the right anterior cruciate ligament sprain. The
surgeon performs an arthroscopic repair of the right anterior cruciate
ligament. In that circumstance, you could apply the following codes
as seen in "External Cause Codes for an ACL Repair."
OSM
Mr. Lathrop (blathrop@codingnetwork.com) CPC, CASCC is an auditor
and certified coder for The Coding Network in Beverly Hills, Calif. He is an
AHIM-approved ICD-10-CM/PCS Trainer.
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