In simple words: This code means the patient's illness didn't get better with antibiotics or other similar medicines.The doctor uses this code along with the code for the main illness to show that the treatment wasn't working as well as it should have.

This ICD-10-CM code, Z16, signifies resistance to antimicrobial drugs.It's used as an additional code to document the non-responsiveness of a medical condition to antimicrobial treatment.The primary diagnosis should be coded first (e.g., the specific infection).This code does not replace the coding of the underlying infection; it is supplementary information regarding the treatment's efficacy.This is crucial for tracking antimicrobial resistance patterns and informing public health strategies.Note that specific types of antimicrobial resistance may have more specific codes.

Example 1: A patient presents with pneumonia caused by a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain. The physician would code the pneumonia (e.g., J15.212) as the primary diagnosis and Z16 as an additional code to denote MRSA resistance., A patient with a urinary tract infection (UTI) receives multiple antibiotic treatments without improvement.After the causative organism is identified and shown to be resistant to the antibiotics used, the UTI is coded as the primary diagnosis and Z16 added to signal antibiotic resistance. The specific antibiotic resistance may warrant more specific codes., A patient with recurrent skin infections, unresponsive to common antibiotics despite multiple treatment attempts. A culture identifies the infection and specifies the resistant bacteria. The primary diagnosis will reflect the specific infection, while Z16 documents the antibiotic resistance pattern.

Detailed documentation is necessary, including:

** Z16 is a crucial code for tracking antimicrobial resistance, a significant public health concern.Accurate documentation is key to effective infection control and appropriate patient management.