Trinity Health strives for accurate and compliant coding. Frequent coding changes during the COVID-19 pandemic has caused confusion in the use of diagnosis code(s) to be used on the order for COVID-19 lab screening exams. The following guidance is according to the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting.
| For COVID-19 lab screening exams for symptomatic or asymptomatic patients, the following code(s) should be used: | |
| Z20.822 Contact with and (suspected) exposure to COVID-19 (Effective 1/1/2021) | |
| Additional diagnosis codes may be listed if the patient is symptomatic. | |
| For pre-operative COVID-19 lab screening exams, the following codes should be used: | |
| Z01.812 Encounter for preprocedural laboratory examination (List first) | |
| Z20.822 Contact with and (suspected) exposure to COVID-19 | |
| For COVID-19 antibody testing, the following code should be used: | |
| Z01.84 Encounter for antibody response examination | |
Please do not use the following codes to order COVID-19 lab screening exams:
| Do not use this Code | Rationale for not using code |
| Z20.828 Contact with and (suspected) exposure to other viral communicable diseases | Only valid for dates of service prior to 1/1/2021 |
| Z11.52 Encounter for screening for COVID-19 | This code should not be used until the CDC has declared the pandemic as resolved. They were being proactive in creating this code. |
| Z11.59 Encounter for screening for other viral communicable diseases | Not valid for COVID-19 screening as it is unspecified |
| Z11.9 Encounter for screening for infectious and parasitic diseases, unspecified | Not valid for COVID-19 screening as it is unspecified |
| Z03.818 Encounter for observation for suspected exposure to other biological agents ruled out | This code is not valid for COVID-19 testing |