Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Expect most details to remain the same.

When your pathologist examines a small intestine specimen and assigns a malignant neoplasm diagnosis, the coding change should be simple when ICD-10 goes into effect Oct. 1, 2014.

That’s because you’ll find a nearly perfect one-to-one crosswalk from ICD-9 to ICD-10 for this condition.

Learn the Codes

Currently, you should report malignant neoplasm of the small intestine using one of the following ICD-9 codes:

• 152.0 — Malignant neoplasm of duodenum
• 152.1 — Malignant neoplasm of jejunum
• 152.2 — Malignant neoplasm of ileum
• 152.3 — Malignant neoplasm of Meckel’s diverticulum
• 152.8 — Malignant neoplasm of other specified sites of small intestine
• 152.9 — Malignant neoplasm of small intestine unspecified site.

Once ICD-10 goes into effect, you’ll choose from one of these ICD-10 codes instead:

• C17.0 — Malignant neoplasm of duodenum
• C17.1 — Malignant neoplasm of jejunum
• C17.2 — Malignant neoplasm of ileum
• C17.3 — Meckel’s diverticulum, malignant
• C17.8 — Malignant neoplasm of overlapping sites of small intestine
• C17.9 — Malignant neoplasm of small intestine, unspecified.

Notice: There’s only one significant definition change from ICD-9 to ICD-10: 152.8 is “other specified sites,” while C17.8 is “overlapping sites.”