Pulmonology Coding Alert

Question: What code do I need to assign for a lung granuloma diagnosis?

Codify Subscriber

Answer: You’ll assign J84.10 (Pulmonary fibrosis, unspecified) to report the lung granuloma diagnosis, unless the provider documented a more detailed diagnosis.

When you search for Granuloma > lung in the ICD-10-CM Alphabetic Index, you’ll find specific conditions with codes to verify in the Tabular List. If the terms under Granuloma > lung don’t match the condition in the provider’s documentation, you will turn to Fibrosis > lung in the Alphabetic Index. Several other specific conditions are listed under Fibrosis > lung, and if any of these terms do match the documentation, verify the code in the Tabular List.

However, if the provider documented the patient’s diagnosis only as “lung granuloma,” you’ll assign J84.10, which is the default code for the condition.