Good news, Texas nurse Amber Vinson has improved and will soon be transferred out of isolation. They saved her dog too. 
Now what about the Workers Comp claim? Do they have a check box for Ebola? She got injured on the job.
I recall Dr. Kent Brantly (the 1st American Ebola patient) said Ebola really sapped his strength. It could be a couple months before these patients are ready to return to work. Its is wonderful that they are recovering. I guess the Nurses will get workers comp checks eventually.
Nina Pham is the nurse with the dog. And yes, the pooch is Ebola-free.
Funny you should mention that.
Medical claims use diagnosis codes called ICD codes. The US currently uses ICD9, which is at least 20 years old. ICD10 has been under implementation by the industry for a couple of years now.
There is no ICD-9 diagnosis code specific to Ebola. The docs would use 065.8 (Other specified arthropod-borne hemorrhagic fever) on the claim.
When the country switches to ICD-10 (next October), the codewill be A98.4.
If Ebola did become a big problem in the US, ICD-10 would help the CDC and WHO track and document cases, but ICD-10 was put off a couple of times, so it’s not in play yet.
Interesting that they’ve already considered this for workers comp. Always be prepared.
thank you for the information.
Well, it was an on-the-job hazard, Worker’s Comp is the logical place to go for a claim.
ICD-10 is used worldwide. It’s the U.S. that’s behind on this. Workers’ comp hasn’t considered it, the rest of the world considers it worth coding.