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