A physician has been treating a patient with endocarditis for the past two weeks. Due to the patient's chronic inflammation of the heart's lining, the physician sent a blood sample to the lab, which detected trace amounts of the bacteria staphylococcus. Now that the physician knows the bacterium that is causing the endocarditis, he can prescribe an appropriate antibiotic to fight the infection and treat the condition. What are the correct diagnosis codes for this patient's condition?
A)421.0, 041.10
B)041.10, 421.0
C)041.11, 421.0
D)421.0, 041.00

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The correct diagnosis codes for this patient's condition are: 421.0 (Endocarditis) and 041.10 (Infectious Organism). The codes need to be sequenced in this order because there is a note under the endocarditis category 421.0 that states to "use additional code to identify an infectious organism." In this case, the infectious organism is unspecified staphylococcus, code 041.10, which needs to be sequenced after the endocarditis code.

A Physician Has Been Treating a Patient with Endocarditis for the Past