A patient was discharged from the acute care hospital with a final diagnosis of bronchial asthma. As the coder reviews the record, she notes that the patient was described as having prolonged and intractable wheezing, airway obstruction that was not relieved by bronchodilators and the lab values showed decreased respiratory function. The coder queried the physician to determine whether the code for ________ is appropriate to be added to the final diagnoses.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The patient's description indicates that they had prolonged and intractable wheezing, airway obstruction that was not relieved by bronchodilators, and decreased respiratory function. These are all indicative of status asthmaticus, which is a severe and life-threatening exacerbation of asthma. Thus, the appropriate code to add to the final diagnoses is status asthmaticus (J46).

A Patient Was Discharged from the Acute Care Hospital with a Final