Maggie MaybeCoding for Climate:
“When a physician is aware that there’s a heat wave, they’re more likely to code for heat-related illness, like acute heat stroke”, said Ashley Ward, PhD, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University. But, she noted, “it is not those short-term extreme heat events that actually result in the greatest health outcomes. It’s the everyday chronic exposure throughout heat season’ that exacerbates other conditions.”
“If more physicians included ICD-10 codes for heat, including chronic exposure, experts say policymakers would have a clearer picture of its health effects, ideally leading to initiatives that protect patients from its harms. Coding for heat-related illness is just one part of a larger push to better document social determinants of health. But difficulty in determining the role of heat in a patient’s condition, a lack of physician familiarity with the codes, and balancing thoroughness and efficiency during clinical encounters all present challenges.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2836808