Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Prepare for new liver biopsy diagnosis options.When you start using ICD-10 on Oct. 1, 2013, you'll need to leave your 155.0 comfort zone and start using more specific codes for primary liver neoplasms that your pathologist diagnoses.ICD-9 Gives One ChoiceA number of diagnoses fall under the ICD-9 code you currently use, as follows:155.0, Malignant neoplasm of liver primary Carcinoma: liver, specified as primary hepatocellular liver cell HepatoblastomaFind Many Choices in ICD-10The new code set does not provide a one-to-one corresponding code. Instead, you'll need to choose from a number of possibilities for liver biopsy results:C22.0, Liver cell carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma HepatomaC22.2, Hepatoblastoma C22.3, Angiosarcoma of liver Kupffer cell sarcoma C22.4, Other sarcomas of liver C22.7, Other specified carcinomas of liver C22.8, Malignant neoplasm of liver, primary, unspecified as to type.Documentation: If your pathologist's current documentation format doesn't distinguish between hepatoma rather than hepatoblastoma or angiosarcoma, add the C22.- diagnoses to [...]