AHA Coding Clinic® for ICD-9 - 2009 Issue 4; VOLUMES 1 & 2 NEW/REVISED CODES
Dysarthria and Fluency Disorder
Effective October 1, 2009, subcategory 784.5, Other speech disturbance, has been expanded to create new codes for dysarthria and other speech disturbance. In addition, subcategory 438.1, Speech and language deficits, has been expanded to distinguish between dysarthria (438.13) and fluency disorder (438.14) as late effects of cerebrovascular disease. Dysarthria entails difficulty in understanding the patient’s speech and poorly articulated speech, resulting from disturbances of muscular control caused by damage to a central or peripheral motor nerve. Dysarthria can occur as a developmental disability. It may be a sign of a neuromuscular disorder...
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Article Overview
This article covers October 1, 2009 diagnosis-code updates affecting speech and language disorders, with emphasis on dysarthria, fluency disorder, stuttering, and related speech disturbance categories. It is useful for coders, CDI staff, and clinical documentation teams who need to understand how the affected diagnosis groupings were reorganized and which code sets are involved.
Why This Topic Matters
Changes to speech-disorder diagnosis coding can affect documentation review, claim accuracy, and selection of the correct diagnosis family for patients with speech impairment or late effects of cerebrovascular disease.
Article Sections
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Coding update overview
Introduces the diagnosis-code revisions and identifies the speech-disorder categories affected by the update.
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Dysarthria and related clinical background
Summarizes the clinical context for dysarthria and its possible causes and manifestations.
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Fluency disorders
Describes fluency-disorder groupings and related speech-pattern categories.
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Code changes and cross-references
Lists the affected diagnosis code families and notes related inclusions and exclusions across the revised categories.
What You Will Learn
- Which diagnosis code families were expanded or revised
- How the article frames dysarthria and fluency disorders clinically
- Which speech-disorder categories are associated with late effects of cerebrovascular disease
- What general types of diagnosis-code cross-references are discussed
Who Should Read This
- Medical coders
- Coding auditors
- Clinical documentation improvement professionals
- Billing staff
- Speech-language documentation teams
Codes Discussed
Code Ranges Discussed
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