Urology Coding Alert

Question: If I find that a common ICD-9 code that I use doesn’t have a direct crosswalk to ICD-10, will I be able to use “other” or “other specified” codes in ICD-10?

Arkansas Subscriber

Answer: You will see that not all codes in ICD-9 have a direct crosswalk to ICD-10 codes.

However, that doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically select an “other” or “other specified” code for the condition. It may be that ICD-10 provides multiple codes that provide more granularity for reporting the condition you have previously reported with a single code in ICD-9.

For instance, ICD-10 introduces laterality for specimen site, so a single ICD-9 code may translate to a comparable code for “right,” “left,” and “unspecified” sites.

Example: You should report a malignant renal tumor (previously reported with ICD-9 code 189.0) according to location: C64.1 (Malignant neoplasm of right kidney, except renal pelvis), C64.2 (Malignant neoplasm of left kidney, except renal pelvis), or C64.9 (Malignant neoplasm of unspecified kidney, except renal pelvis), when a side has not been indicated by the provider.

You should reserve codes that state “other” or “other specified” for when the information in the medical record provides detail (provides a diagnosis) for which a specific ICD-10 diagnostic code does not exist. You should use “unspecified” codes when the information in the medical record is insufficient to assign a more specific ICD-10 code.