Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert
Breast Cancer Returns in Lung
Question: How should we code a metastatic breast cancer in which the breast was removed in the 1980s but the cancer has returned in the lung? New Jersey Subscriber Answer: AHA guidelines dictate that "Any mention of extension, invasion, or metastasis to another site is coded as a secondary malignant neoplasm to that site. The secondary site may be the principal or first-listed with the V10 code [Personal history of malignant neoplasm] used as a secondary code." Answers to the Reader Questions and You Be the Coder were provided by Mary Jo Griffin, RN, CPC, compliance officer with Practice Management Inc. of Boise, Idaho; Margaret M. Hickey, MS, MSN, RN, OCN, CORLN, an independent coding consultant based in New Orleans; Linda L. Lively, MHA, CCS-P, RCC, CHBME, founder and CEO of American Medical Accounting and Consulting in Marietta, Ga.; Cindy Parman, CPC, CPC-H, RCC, co-owner of Coding Strategies Inc., an Atlanta-based firm; and Elaine Towle, CMPE, practice administrator for New Hampshire Oncology and Hematology in Hooksett.
The cancer that they found at this episode is a lung cancer, so it should be coded as secondary lung (197.0) followed by V10.3 (Personal history of breast cancer).
Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert
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Breast Cancer Returns in Lung
Question: How should we code a metastatic breast cancer in which the breast was removed [...]
