Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Question: The pathology report for an ovary specimen lists M8470/1 for the tumor registry diagnosis. Can we use this for the diagnosis code for billing or should we figure out an ICD-9 code?Florida SubscriberAnswer: You should not report morphology code M8470/1 on the billing claim form. If the pathology report doesn't list an ICD-9 code or a narrative description that you can use to determine theICD-9 code, you can "translate" the tumor registry morphology code to an ICD-9 code.Here's how: Use the neoplasm table to locate the most likely ICD-9 code, and then confirm your choice by checking the ICD-9 tabular list. The morphology codes begin with the letter M followed by five digits. The first four digits identify the neoplasm histologic type, such as adenoma or lipoma. A slash and fifth digit follow, indicating the behavior of each neoplasm, corresponding to the ICD-9 neoplasm table as follows:0 benign (ICD-9 [...]