Diagnostic Radiology ICD-9 Code Update: New Mammo Code 793.82

Posted on 08. Jul, 2009 by Editor in Hot Coding Topics

New code 793.82 shakes up the whole 793.x range in 2010.

The switch to ICD-9 2010 is only a few short months away; preparing now for a crucial change in diagnostic imaging will put you ahead of the game.

Remember: ICD-9 2010 codes will be appropriate for services performed on or after Oct. 1, 2009.

Dense breasts may require testing beyond a mammogram to confirm no malignancies, and the request for an appropriate code to describe this resulted in 793.82 (Inconclusive mammogram), according to the ICD-9 Committee’s September 2008 meeting agenda.

“The new code may help get insurance companies to pay for additional testing,” says Cheryl Scott, CPC, CPC-H, CCS, CCS-P, with HealthTexas in Dallas. “Prior to the 2010 code, the choices were to bill it as screening or to code dense breasts as an ‘abnormality’” – which they aren’t, she says.

And precisely because these inconclusive mammogram findings are not “abnormal,” ICD-9 2010 will revise the 793.0-793.7 range so that “abnormal” findings aren’t a requirement for using these codes:

• 2009: Nonspecific abnormal findings on radiological and other examination of …

• 2010: Nonspecific (abnormal) findings on radiological and other examination of …

Codes 793.89 and 793.99 will have the same change, adding parentheses:

• 2010: 793.89 – Other (abnormal) findings on radiological examination of breast

• 2010: 793.99 – Other nonspecific (abnormal) findings on radiological and other examination of body structure.

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Tags: 793.82, 793.89, 793.99, dense breasts, diagnosis code, diagnostic radiology, ICD-9 2010, inconclusive, mammogram