From June, the summer season starts which brings with it various health conditions resulting from the outdoor activities and outdoor trips people plan to beat the heat. These health conditions and ailments hamper the enjoyment of summer holidays. Reports suggest that healthcare facilities encounter nearly double the cases in emergency departments in this season with different summer ailments and medical coding professionals need to brush up their coding knowledge related to these ailments and diseases to code these cases accurately. Few common summer ailments for which people in medical coding jobs need to brush their ICD codes are discussed here.
- Heat rashes: Prickly heat rashes, although harmless, are uncomfortable and have symptoms of small red spots, skin redness and swelling, and an itchy and prickly sensation. These can appear on any part of the body but are not infectious. Medical coding professionals should know, heat rashes are generally caused by excessive sweating due to blocked sweat glands. The applicable ICD – 10 code is L74 – Eccrine sweat disorders.
- Sunburn: This skin condition is a result of brief overexposure to ultraviolet light and causes painful and red skin. Sometimes it may cause blisters and fever also. The severity of sunburn may vary depending on the amount of melanin in the skin and the amount of ultraviolet light on the day of overexposure. Sunburn can be prevented by avoiding sun exposure and using sunscreens. This condition can be treated with moisturizers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to ease the pain. The ICD -10 codes to be used by professionals in medical coding companies for this condition are –
- L 55.0 – for sunburn of first degree
- L55.1 – for sunburn of second degree
- L55.2 – for sunburn of third degree
- L55.9 – for sunburn, unspecified
- Heatstroke: Another common summer ailment that is a serious condition and considered an emergency is heatstroke, also known as sunstroke. This condition usually occurs when a person has been too hot for too long while working, exercising or staying in a hot environment. If left untreated, it may lead to damage to internal organs and death also in some cases. Staying in cool areas and drinking plenty of fluids can prevent heatstroke for which the ICD -10 code to be assigned by medical coders is T67.
Other common ailments that peak during summer include – food poisoning (ICD – code A05) and Lyme disease (A 69). People in medical coding jobs must be aware of these ailments and the related codes so as to assign flawless ICD codes and provide accurate codes for further billing and reimbursement processes.