Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert
Reader Question ~ Don't Expect Dx Code to Show Right, Left
Published on Thu Oct 12, 2006
Question: If a patient has breast cancer in both her breasts, is there a way to indicate this in the diagnosis codes?
Oregon Subscriber
Answer: In short -- no. You won't find breast neoplasm ICD-9 codes broken down into right and left.
However, depending on the services the physician provides, you may be able to append modifiers RT (Right side), LT (Left side), or 50 (Bilateral procedure) to the CPT codes.
Eye on the future: ICD-10 should allow you to report right and left breast diagnosis codes.
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