Here is an interesting article about coding in ICD-10.
While various carriers have some leeway (apparently this is especially true for Medicaid in various states)... the following exerpts are worthy of note:
"Under ICD-9, Medicare has ALWAYS accepted ?less specific? codes...CMS has reiterated numerous times that their acceptance of unspecified codes will not change as a result of the ICD-10 transition."
"To reiterate for emphasis, ?it is acceptable to report the appropriate ?unspecified? code?. This is the official policy approved by CMS. All HIPAA-covered entities are required to abide by this policy because it is part of the official HIPAA ICD-10 code set standard. We are unaware of any payers that have stated an intention to violate this policy and disallow unspecified codes. Thus, the issue of the level of code specificity required is a non-existent problem."
The article includes references to CMS documents supporting these and other statements.
This runs directly counter to the ICD-10 panic drummed-up by the industry of consultants out there "helping us" through the transition.
http://hitconsultant.net/2015/07/03/why-non-specific-icd-10-codes-are-a-non-issue/
