Coding Corner: November Edition

Q: When assigning a diagnosis code, is there a difference between how a mass, a lesion, a tumor, or a cyst of a specific organ/body area are coded? 

A: YES! There are four different ICD-10 diagnosis codes for the four conditions listed above. For example, a liver lesion is coded as K76.9; a liver mass is coded as R16.0, a liver tumor is coded as D49.0, and a liver cyst is coded as K76.89.  Many times, this has been referred to as two, three, or even all four of these in the same report, therefore making it difficult for the coder to assign the appropriate ICD-10 code.