Q&A Current Neoplasm vs History

[KimS]

Hello,

I apologize for the lateness in submitting the question. I have a dilemma when coding for diagnostic services for an oncology service. When a yearly evaluation is being done, the physicians are assigning acute cancer codes for conditions that should clearly be a history. If a patient has had a mastectomy to remove the cancer, has had normal mammograms, and the physician states in his H&P that there is NED, shouldn't a history of breast cancer be coded. There are many times when the patient is receiving an aromatase inhibitor or a selective estrogen-receptor modulator (SERM), and I am wondering if the physician is considering their use as treatment of the breast cancer. Would it be appropriate to assign an acute cancer code when the patient is receiving the mentioned pharmaceuticals?

Thanks for your replies!

Kim

 

[Alicia Scott]

Great question Kim. It is true if the patient is taking a medication that prevents the reaccurance of breast cancer then they are considered still under treatment and you can not code a Hx code when the patient is actively getting Tx.

Off the top of my head I can't remember the most common meds but I can get a list for you. I used to have them memorized.

 

[Alicia Scott]

Here is a video clip of one of our previous webinar's when we talked about the above.

 

[Ruth Sheets]

This topic -- History of Cancer -- was covered in the November 2014 Q&A Webinar by ALicia Scott. She went through 3 examples related to V10.3 personal history of malignant neoplasm; breast.
If you missed the webinar, it is a great idea to sign up for the CCO Club. That way you will get access to the recording of the webinar, conveniently divided into video clips by topic. You also get the transcript, answer sheets, and a chance to earn a CEU for the webinar by passing a 10 question quiz. Not only that, but you can access all the available resources for past webinars, too!