New ICD-10 Code on Muscle Wasting Becomes Effective Oct. 1

There’s a new ICD-10 code presenting a new challenge for facilities, physicians, clinical documentation integrity specialists (CDISs), and coders: E88.A, muscle wasting due to underlying conditions.

This new code represents an opportunity to identify, document, and report the frequent and too-often unrecognized undernutrition, sarcopenia, and cachexia disorders associated with muscle wasting, along with their underlying causes. 

During the next live edition of Talk Ten Tuesdays, James S. Kennedy, MD, president of CDIMD near Nashville, Tenn., will address the clinical criteria inherent to these conditions. He will also discuss recent Coding Clinic advice affecting E88.A reporting, and proactive CDI approaches that facilitate expert identification and management of these debilitating conditions. 

And to help you gain more value from this exclusive broadcast, Dr. Kennedy has offered the following references on muscle wasting (https://society-scwd.org/muscle-wasting/), sarcopenia (https://society-scwd.org/sarcopenia/), cachexia (https://society-scwd.org/cachexia/), and malnutrition (https://www.tinyurl.com/malnutrition2012).

Following the broadcast, you should be prepared to implement these concepts.

All this and more will be covered during the next edition of the weekly broadcast, which will also feature these outstanding segments and thought leaders:

• Coding Report: Laurie Johnson, senior healthcare consultant with Revenue Cycle Solutions, LLC, will have the latest coding news.
• SDoH Report: Juliet Ugarte Hopkins, president of the American College of Physician Advisors, will substitute for Tiffany Ferguson, and will report on the news that’s happening at the intersection of coding and the social determinants of health (SDoH).
  
  
• News Desk: Timothy Powell, CPA, will anchor the Talk Ten Tuesdays News Desk.
  
  
• TalkBack: Erica Remer, MD, founder and president of Erica Remer, MD, Inc., and Talk Ten Tuesdays co-host, will report on a subject that has caught her attention during her popular segment.