Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Question: Our oncologist harvested stem cells from blood. Which code applies to this?

Answer: Since you already know that the stem cells were harvested from blood and not bone marrow, you are on the way to selecting a code, but you still need a little more information from the medical record.

After you confirm the origin of the stem cells from bone marrow or blood, you typically will need to determine if the harvest was obtained from the patient (autologous) or from another donor (allogeneic). In autologous transplantation, the oncologist takes cells from the patient’s body, such as from marrow or blood, and reintroduces the cells to the patient following intensive chemotherapy.

Depending upon the allogeneic or autologous harvest of the hematopoietic progenitor cell from blood, you choose from the following two codes:

• 38205,  Blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cell harvesting for transplantation, per collection; allogeneic
• 38206, Blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cell harvesting for transplantation, per collection; autologous.

In cases when your physician harvests stem cells from the bone marrow, you would submit code 38230 (Bone marrow harvesting for transplantation; allogeneic) or 38232 (Bone marrow harvesting for transplantation; autologous), depending upon the allogeneic or autologous sites of harvest.