Mrs. Kelly had an appointment to see the doctor for a persistent lowgrade fever.

Question

Mrs. Kelly had an appointment to see the doctor for a persistent lowgrade fever. During the visit she mentioned that she had twisted her ankle a week or so ago and that it still hurt when she put weight on it. The doctor took xrays and found that there was a stress fracture. He gave her a postop shoe to wear to provide more support and reduce her pain. When coding this patient’s visit, he used fever for the diagnosis code, and he used xrays and a postop shoe for the procedure codes. What error did the doctor make when coding? Mrs. Kelly had an appointment to see the doctor for a persistent lowgrade fever. During the visit she mentioned that she had twisted her ankle a week or so ago and that it still hurt when she put weight on it. The doctor took xrays and found that there was a stress fracture. He gave her a postop shoe to wear to provide more support and reduce her pain. When coding this patient’s visit, he used fever for the diagnosis code, and he used xrays and a postop shoe for the procedure codes. What error did the doctor make when coding?

Explanation / Answer

The Doctor made an error of selecting the wrong procedural code. He probably coded her illness as fever before moving on to the other symptoms which were very different from the first. He should have changed the code from fever to the orthopaedic practice, which he failed to do.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse M
• Subjects

---

---

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.