Revenue Cycle Insider

Question: A patient is diagnosed with familial torsion dystonia. I can’t find this condition in the ICD-10-CM code book; should I use G24.8, G24.9, or some other diagnosis code for this condition?

Washington Subscriber

Answer: You shouldn’t report either of the codes you mentioned. Instead, report G24.1 (Genetic torsion dystonia). Familial torsion dystonia is an alternate term for G24.1, along with:

• Dystonia deformans progressive
• Dystonia musculorum deformans
• Idiopathic familial dystonia
• Idiopathic (torsion) dystonia NOS
• (Schwalbe-) Ziehen-Oppenheim disease

The codes you mentioned in your question would be best if the condition was named, but had no solid ICD-10-CM correlation. For instance, if the notes indicated that the patient suffered from a named form of dystonia that doesn’t have an ICD-10-CM entry of its own, report G24.8 (Other dystonia). If, however, the form of dystonia isn’t named, you’d report G24.9 (Dystonia, unspecified).

Chris Boucher, MS, CPC, Senior Development Editor, AAPC