General Surgery Coding Alert

211.3 crosswalks to more specific codes.

Because they’re non-neoplastic, you’ll currently report most hyperplastic colon, rectal, or anal polyps that your surgeon removes as ICD-9 code 211.3 (Benign neoplasm of colon) or 211.4 (Benign neoplasm of rectum and anal canal).

But two codes won’t be good enough once you convert to ICD-10 on Oct. 1, 2015. At that point, your surgeon needs to specifically identify the location of the polyp, or you won’t be able to choose the best diagnosis code.

Location, Location, Location

Under ICD-10, you’ll have the following codes to report hyperplastic polyps:

• D12.2 — Benign neoplasm of ascending colon
• D12.3 — Benign neoplasm of transverse colon
• D12.4 — Benign neoplasm of descending colon
• D12.5 — Benign neoplasm of sigmoid colon
• D12.6 — Benign neoplasm of colon, unspecified
• D12.7 — Benign neoplasm of rectosigmoid junction
  
• D12.8 — Benign neoplasm of rectum
  
• D12.9 — Benign neoplasm of anus and anal canal.