Please note this question was answered in 2015. The coding advice may or may not be outdated.
Congenital vs. Non-Congenital Heart Cath Codes
Date: Feb 9, 2015
Question:
There has been lots of back and forth over the years on whether or not congenital heart transplant patients should continue to be reported as congenital for heart cath coding purposes. Physicians state that once congenital always congenital, but I've understood from consultant recommendations that unless the new heart has a congenital defect or complex re-routing of vessels due to congenital cardiac anatomy, then all heart caths for transplant patients are coded as non-congenital. Can you please clarify?
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