Highlights of AHA’s Coding Clinic Second Quarter 2024 Release for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS

4 min read 

The Second Quarter 2024 newsletter of AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS was released June 1, 2024. Let’s explore some of the highlights! 

The second newsletter of 2024 is devoted to 30 different ask-the-editor topics. Within these 31 pages, a recurring theme in the questions is about Excludes1 and Excludes2 notes, which the AHA Central Office clarifies for various categories and subcategories in the Alphabetic Index, including category J44, Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; subcategory K59.0-, Constipation; and subcategory G93.4, Other and unspecified encephalopathy. 

Three of the ask-the-editor questions address chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in patients who also have asthma, emphysema, or bronchiectasis. As the AHA’s ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Coding Handbook Revised 2024 Edition explains, COPD is a general term describing conditions (such as emphysema, asthma, or chronic bronchitis) that result in airway obstruction. COPD is always caused by another condition. ICD-10-CM classifies these conditions to category J44, Other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but there is a lot of confusion when patients present with COPD and another respiratory illness. The second quarter newsletter addresses an apparent conflict between the Alphabetic Index and the Tabular List when assigning codes for asthma in a patient with COPD, and it also discusses the proper code assignment for COPD in a patient with emphysema. This has been a confusing topic ever since the Excludes1 and Excludes2 notes found at categories J43 and J44 were updated on October 1, 2023. 

Some of the other ICD-10-CM topics covered in the Ask the Editor section include: 

• Dementia and Epilepsy 
• Malignant Pleural Effusion 
• Recrudescence of Symptoms from Previous Stroke 

For ICD-10-PCS, the latest newsletter addresses code assignments for the following topics: 

• Complications of Deep Inferior Epigastric Artery Perforator (DIEAP) Flap procedures 
• Dissection of Ascending Aorta, Aortic Arch, and Descending Thoracic Aorta 
• Deep Brain Stimulation with Placement of Extension Wire During Insertion of Implantable Pulse Generator 

Those are just the highlights! As always, please read the Second Quarter 2024 AHA Coding Clinic for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS entirely for the best source of medical coding information.