ICD-10 will make more sense!


You're rounding one day and you see a patient  who has an abnormal blood glucose. The following blood sugar is not that high. In fact the blood sugar levels are not diagnostic of diabetes. We know that clinically, along with other characteristics of the patient, we diagnose "Pre-diabetes" (or sometimes, "borderline diabetes").

Unfortunately, the ICD-9 code for this condition is confusing and non-intuitive:
Nonspecific findings on examination of blood; abnormal glucose - 790.29 - Really? this doesn't even make sense. It's a lab.

ICD-10 will acknowledge the medical advancements in diagnosis of "pre-diabetes" and there is a code for it:
Prediabetes or Borderline Diabetes - R73.09 - That, makes a lot more sense.

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