Medical Coding

Answer :B - Severe sepsis is only coded as the secondary code and never as the primary. This is due to the fact that there is always an underlying infection in sepsis and that systemic infection needs to be coded first.
Sepsis does have subcategories and it is important to use a subcategory when the cause is known and only when it is clearly documented in the medical record. Severe sepsis can never be assigned as the primary/principal diagnosis. If severe sepsis develops during an encounter, than the admitting or initial diagnosis is used as the primary code and severe sepsis is listed as the secondary code along with the underlying systemic infection.