Ssutuanjoe

Doctor here.

You'll be giving the folks who design medical billing a coding a run for their money, from here on out.

We have no billable code for "swallowed by whale". The closest we have is "encounter with orca (W56.22XA)".

Right? Haha.

I'm guessing maybe they'll just have to try to use "bitten by other animal(W55.81XA)"?

But honestly, I have no idea!

Excuse my naivete, why would you code the cause and not the treatment?

Because American medical billing and coding, basically.

That's really the answer.

We have multiple codes, actually.

Icd10 codes tell the billing agency what the patient has.

CPT codes tell what you did and level of complexity (pretty much the equivalent to "replace the gas tank").

So, you come in for birth control. I assess that you would like the nexplanon subdermal device, and I do that. Then, on my documentation, I write something like;

Z30. 433 - Encounter for removal and reinsertion of intrauterine contraceptive device z30.9 - encounter for contraceptive management (I was mixed up on my IUD vs nexplanon coding). This one might be more appropriate

Then, in my treatment plan, I'll code;

11981 - nexplanon implantation

THEN, I code the complexity of the visit;

99213 - or a level 3 visit (we mostly pay attention to the last number in the sequence)

And finally, that goes off to an insurance company and they decide if I've done things correctly enough to pay for it.

Probably a longer answer than you wanted, but there it is.

Resident doctor here.

I just found it super fascinating to actually see the blue sclera of your eyes. We often read about it in textbooks, but rarely get to see what it actually looks like. Thanks for the pic! :)

(In accordance with the rule about asking a question) Do people comment on the sclera? When you meet new physicians, can they point it out right away, or do you usually tell them about your OI first?

someone had to stand on the Senate floor for twelve hours and read Dr. Seuss or whatever to filibuster.

That was Strom Thurmond, and he was filibustering against civil rights.