Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Medicare participants: Use form to report chemo symptoms

If your oncology practice wants to take part in Medicare's 2005 demonstration project to measure quality of care for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, you'll need to come up with a symptom checklist form to use when filing Medicare claims.
 
With a good form on file, gathering all the patient info you need to comply with Medicare project guidelines will be a breeze. And the forms can be used to compile internal data on how the practice addresses patient side effects, complaints and concerns.
 
Best course of action: Use the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL) when reporting chemo patients' symptoms. The Rotterdam scale is a top-notch tool you can use to help patients assess their pain levels because the scale is already in widespread use, has proven effective in care of other cancers, and is easily understood by patients, according to the CMS Web site.
 
Take a look at this template of the Rotterdam Symptom Checklist, endorsed by Medicare. When you create your own symptom checklist form, you can adjust it to your practice's special needs - just be sure all 12 G codes are included on your RSCL.

(Editor's note: For more information on the Rotterdam scale for assessing patient pain levels, please visit http://www.med.rug.nl/nch/rscl.pdf.)