Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Clarify the limits of 'anemia in neoplastic disease,' or risk misrepresenting patient's condition.Scenario: Suppose documentation shows a diagnosis of anemia. The cause of the anemia is documented as cancer (primary overlapping sites in the colon) and not treatment (chemotherapy). The patient presents solely for treatment of the anemia. You need to choose which diagnosis codes you apply to the case and what order they go in. Follow along to see where to turn for the information you need.Pathology Interpretation Offers Best Neoplasm Code SupportFirst let's look at the appropriate neoplasm code. The documentation indicates overlapping cancerous neoplasms in the colon, so the appropriate code is 153.8(Malignant neoplasm of other specified sites of large intestine). A note with this code indicates it is appropriate for "Malignant neoplasm of contiguous or overlapping sites of colon whose point of origin cannot be determined."Try this: You should look to the oncologist's interpretation of the [...]