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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

ICD-9 2012:

173 and 041: Get Specific With Fifth Digits for Skin Cancer, E. coli

Published on Thu Jul 07, 2011

Get up to speed on CMS's final proposed update to ICD-9-CM code set.Pathologists will need to report fifth digits for all "other" skin cancer diagnoses beginning Oct. 1 if the proposed ICD-9 codes become final.You'll find that and other new, invalid, and revised codes that will impact your lab recently posted on the CMS Website. The changes are the final full set that the agency will make to ICD-9 codes. After the new codes take effect on Oct. 1, CMS will only add new ICD- 9 codes on an emergency basis as it prepares to switch over the diagnosis coding system to ICD-10.Get Ready for Skin Cancer DetailsThe latest ICD-9 proposed changes will expand 10 current codes (173.x, Other malignant neoplasm of skin) to 40 new codes (173.xx).Skin site distinguishes the 10 existing codes (173.0-173.9) that will become "invalid." The same site distinctions remain in the new codes, but ICD-9 [...]
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