Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Hint: If it's a new code for -09, it probably has an edit. CPT 2009 overhauled your coding choices for brachytherapy, hydration, and some of your most common injections and infusions. Now the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) follows suit, with hundreds of oncology-related edits going into effect with CCI 15.0 for claims filed Jan. 1-March 31, 2009. Don't Skip Over the Deletions Virtually every edition of CCI includes some deletions along with all the additions, but the list is usually short. With CCI 15.0, however, the total number of deletions almost equals the additions. The extensive deletions aren't necessarily unusual, says Cindy C. Parman, CPC, CPC-H, RCC, co-owner of Coding Strategies Inc. in Powder Springs, Ga. "We have many deletions every time we change codes," she says. "The infusion codes have especially changed often during the last three years or so." Fortunately, the deletions are easy to track -- they [...]