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.
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