READER QUESTIONS:
Apply These Dx Codes to Your Claim
Published on Sun Jan 01, 2006
Question: If a patient presents with chemotherapy-induced anemia, what diagnosis codes should I use?
Texas Subscriber
Answer: Typically you need to report the anemia as your primary diagnosis and the chemotherapy encounter as a secondary diagnosis.
What to do: Report the anemia with 285.22 (Anemia in neoplastic disease). You may also want to report E933.1 (Drugs, medicinal and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use; antineoplastic and immunosuppressive drugs). Then use the most appropriate code from the following list to report the chemotherapy:
- V58.11--Encounter for antineoplastic chemotherapy
- V66.2--Convalescence and palliative care, following chemotherapy
- V67.2--Follow-up exam, following chemotherapy.