If you are a podiatrist, you treat diabetic feet......It's what you do! Know the ICD-10 codes you need to know for treating your diabetic patients.

 •Many people getting lost in the trauma coding but unless you are in a very high trauma practice, these should not be your main focus.

•Don’t get distracted by the coders who can’t pronounce calcaneus•Know your most common procedures and know how to code them

At risk foot care•Billing 11721•You need to document your class finds and have your Q modifiers correct•Diagnosis needed:•Must have diabetes diagnosis•Choices:•E11.40 DM2 Neuro Comp•E11.51 DM2 PVD Comp•E10.40 DM1 Neuro Comp•E10.51 DM1 PVD Comp•Must have Nail pathology
•B35.1 Mycotic Nail•If Neuro Modifier being used the DM diagnosis had it but would consider using G60.9 which is peripheral Neuropath

   Mycotic diabetic foot care for DM type 2 with neuro might look like

•Procedure code: 11721 Q8•Diagnosis codes:
•E11.40•B35.1•G60.9•Procedure Codes: 11055,11056 Q8•Diagnosis codes:
•E11.40•B35.1•G60.9•L84

Mycotic diabetic foot care for DM type 2 with neuro might look like

    Procedure code: 11721 Q

    •Diagnosis codes:

•E11.51
•B35.1
•I73.9
•Procedure Codes: 11055,11056 Q9
•Diagnosis codes:
•E11.51
•B35.1
•I73.9
•L84
Mycotic diabetic foot care for DMtype1 with neuro might look like
•Procedure code: 11721 Q8
•Diagnosis codes:
•E10.40
•B35.1
•G60.9
•Procedure Codes: 11055,11056 Q8
•Diagnosis codes:
•E10.40
•B35.1
•G60.9
•L84
Mycotic diabetic foot care for DM type1 with PVD might look like
•Procedure code: 11721 Q9
•Diagnosis codes:
•E10.51
•B35.1
•I73.9
•Procedure Codes: 11055,11056 Q9
•Diagnosis codes:
•E10.51
•B35.1
•I73.9
•L84
•If you are a practicing podiatrist seeing diabetic patients can decrease the possibility of them having a non traumatic amputation tremendously
•In the study by Weck, et al, in Cardiovascular Diabetology, 2013. Instituting a structured diabetic foot program can yield a 75% reduction in amputation rates and a near four-fold reduction in inpatient mortality.
•It has been proven time and time again in peer reviewed literature, that these patients who have diabetes that visit the podiatrist are much less likely to have an amputation of an extremity. 
• Podiatric medical care in people with history of diabetic foot ulcers can reduce the high level amputation between 65% and 80%. Gibson, et al, Int Wound Journal 2013. 
Ulcer diagnosis in diabetics
•If your patient is Type 1 diabetic with an ulcer the diagnosis code is:  E10.622
•If your patient is Type 2 diabetic with an ulcer the diagnosis code is: E11.622
•These codes are the highest level of specificity for the types of Diabetic Ulcers we see in the office (do not confuse with pressure ulcers, different codes)
•This is a good improvement, as all of the ulcer codes used to be jumbled together whether they were pressure, diabetic ect.
•Coding for Diabetic Foot Ulcer debridement
•11042, 11043 and 11042 use modifier L or R
•There is no laterally in the diabetic ulcer codes themselves so laterally is still in your procedure codes
•Diagnosis: 
•E11.621 Type 2 dm with foot/ankle ulcer
•E10.622 Type 1 dm with foot/ankle ulcer
•To be specific as possible I would consider also coding their diabetes
•Choices:
•E11.40 DM2 Neuro Comp
•E11.51 DM2 PVD Comp
•E10.40 DM1 Neuro Comp
•E10.51 DM1 PVD Comp
•Yes they have diabetes and an ulcer. But documenting the DM2 Neuro E11.40, for example, is letting them know that the diagnosis of ulcer is “due to” the Neuro Complications
•This makes this much more specific

Check out our website at: http://centeranklefootcare.com/catalog/c14_p1.html for a superbill for podiatry most common codes