A culture report in an infectious disease clinic documents an infection with a drug-resistant organism. How should resistance status be handled?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Resistance is bonus detail on top of the infection—not a replacement for it. When the culture spells out drug resistance, add the status codes the classification allows. Allergy codes aren’t a stand-in for antimicrobial resistance.
Full Explanation
ICD-10-CM includes codes for infection with drug-resistant organisms as additional codes when resistance is documented. The underlying infection (and organism when required) remains coded. Resistance status coding is not limited to inpatient facility claims. Antibiotic allergy codes describe adverse immune response history, not microbial resistance patterns.