Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Specific and unspecified codes will give you 4 choices.

Once CMS implements ICD-10 beginning Oct. 1, 2014, you'll need to know more specific codes for reporting Down syndrome than you've been using in ICD-9 (758.0 , Down's syndrome).

Choose Translocation or More

ICD-10 provides the following codes for reporting Down syndrome:

• Q90.0 -- Trisomy 21, nonmosaicism (meiotic nondisjunction)
• Q90.1 -- Trisomy 21, mosaicism (mitotic nondisjunction)
• Q90.2 -- Trisomy 21, translocation
• Q90.9 -- Down syndrome, unspecified

Get specific: It takes chromosome analysis to confirm Down syndrome and provide complete information about the nature of the genetic anomaly, but your lab might perform other tests that indicate risk for the condition in the unborn child.

For instance, labs might use testing described by new CPT® 2013 code 81510 (Fetal congenital abnormalities, biochemical assays of three analytes [AFP, uE3, hCG (any form)], utilizing maternal serum, algorithm reported as a risk score).

Caution: Don't report Down syndrome on the basis of screening test findings that indicate an increased risk for the condition in the unborn child. Wait for confirmatory chromosomal analysis to assign the most specific ICD-10 code in the range Q90.0 - Q90.9.