Diagnosis notes for dermatology

Be sure to match the diagnosis to the procedure. For example,

• For skin tag removal, use skin tag
• For treatment of warts, use warts
• For excision of malignant lesions, use a malignant lesion code

Describe conditions in the physical exam

• Only use diagnosis of “inflamed” seborrheic keratosis if the exam describes inflammation

Excision of benign and malignant lesions, 11400—11471, 11600—11646

• Hold the claim until the pathology report is back for these codes only, because selection of the CPT^® code is dependent on the diagnosis
• For re-excision of a malignant lesion, use the diagnosis for the malignant lesion, even of the margins are clear when the pathology report is returned

See the page in this handbook on screening services.

Back to Dermatology Roadmap