2018/2019 ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code M17.0. Bilateral primary osteoarthritis of knee. M17.0 is a billable/specific ICD-10-CM code that can be used to indicate a diagnosis for reimbursement purposes.
If the patient's knee pain is adequately explained by the arthritis, then it should not be listed in the diagnosis list at all. In general, if a doctor says his patient has "Osteoarthritis" of any joint, then they are referring to "Primary Osteoarthritis" of that joint.
There is no such thing as "Unspecified" Osteoarthritis. "Osteoarthritis" of the Knee, M17. _/_, comes in only three forms according to ICD-10: Primary, Post-traumatic, and Secondary, and is either "bilateral" or "unilateral."
"Osteoarthritis" of the Knee, M17. _/_, comes in only three forms according to ICD-10: Primary, Post-traumatic, and Secondary, and is either "bilateral" or "unilateral."
Knee pain can be mild, moderate or severe. The reasons for pain can vary such as injury, overuse, infection and inflammation. Sometimes there may be swelling and redness depends on the cause. We need to visit doctor as per the severity and as per how long the pain lasts.
Physician will do extremity examination to check if there is any swelling, inflammation or injury. There may be need of radiological tests (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound) or arthrocentesis (lab analysis of knee joint fluid) for further evaluation to check for infections or injury to tendon or ligament.
ICD 10 Code for knee pain is found in chapter 13 of ICD-10 CM manual – diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, code range M00 – M99
The ICD code M17 is used to code Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone. The most common symptoms are joint pain and stiffness. Initially, symptoms may occur only following exercise, but over time may become constant.
Use a child code to capture more detail. ICD Code M17 is a non-billable code.
Unlike other types of arthritis, only the joints are typically affected. The formation of hard nobs at the middle finger joints (known as Bouchard's nodes ) and at the farther away finger joint (known as Heberden's node) are a common feature of OA in the hands.
The most commonly involved joints are those near the ends of the fingers, at the base of the thumb, neck, lower back, knees, and hips. Joints on one side of the body are often more affected than those on the other. Usually the problems come on over years. It can affect work and normal daily activities.
There are several different types of arthritis depending on the causal organism (Gonococcal, Pneumococcal, Streptococcal etc.), Infectious, Juvenile, due to some other disease and many other. Common types of arthritis found in medical records are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
As per coding policies, coders should not diagnose a disease , coder can only code what Physician diagnosed.
In general, if a doctor says his patient has "Osteoarthritis" of any joint, then they are referring to "Primary Osteoarthritis" of that joint. Post-traumatic and Secondary Osteoarthritis as diagnoses have to be supported in the documentation by specific information that would justify using them.
Providers need to understand that "unspecified" won't work with ICD-10.