Coding tip of the week: How do I code residual effects from a traumatic brain injury?
I hope you’re having a nice week, dear readers! Here is this week’s coding tip, brought to you by Pathway Health Services.
Q: How do I code residual effects from a traumatic brain injury where the initial trauma occurred long ago but we are still dealing with the sequelae such as gait abnormality, confusion, memory loss or seizures?
A: What you describe would be called late effects of a traumatic brain injury. These codes are in the 907 family. The entire section 905 thru 909 deals with late effects of injuries. One caution – unlike late effects of CVA (438 codes) where the late effect code comes first followed by additional codes to further describe the late effects – late effects of injury codes are done exactly opposite. First list codes that describe the late effect (eg gait abnormality, memory loss) then list the 907.XX code.
