Final answer:
Excludes1 notes in ICD-10-CM are helpful in indicating that certain conditions should not be reported together, affecting whether a symptom code may be assigned. ICD codes are essential in healthcare for diagnoses, treatments, laboratory tests, medical records, and statistical tracking.
Step-by-step explanation:
True, in ICD-10-CM, Excludes1 notes are indeed helpful in determining whether a symptom code should be assigned. These notes indicate that the conditions listed as exclusions should never be reported together with the code above the Excludes1 note. If a condition is documented as both a main condition and a symptom of the main condition, separate codes should be used if Excludes1 notes are present.
For example, when a patient seeks treatment for a viral infection, ICD codes are routinely used by clinicians to order laboratory tests and prescribe treatments specific to the virus suspected of causing the illness. This ICD code is then used by medical laboratories to identify tests that must be performed to confirm the diagnosis. Medical coders use ICD codes to assign the proper code for procedures performed, and medical billers, in turn, use this information to process claims for reimbursement by insurance companies. Vital-records keepers use ICD codes to record cause of death on death certificates, and epidemiologists use ICD codes to calculate morbidity and mortality statistics.