Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

Look for low-risk/high-risk HPV distinction in ICD-10.

You can expect a smooth transition for most abnormal Pap diagnosis codes when you switch to ICD-10 on Oct. 1, 2013.

That's because most codes show a one-to-one correspondence from ICD-9 to ICD-10, as you can see in the following chart.

Heads up: Notice that ICD-10 places abnormal HPV findings in a different code family than abnormal Pap smears -- unlike ICD-9. Also notice that ICD-10 allows you to distinguish between low-risk and high-risk HPV findings, while ICD-9 does not provide a specific low-risk code.