Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Check for procedure, medication, and diagnosis.

Your medication administration coding accuracy depends on three key things: what your physician administered, through what route, and for how long. Getting those the three factors right every time can take practice. Test your chemo coding skills with the clinical scenario that follows.

Clinical Example:

A 64-yearold Medicare patient, who is enrolled in an approved clinical trial, is diagnosed with leukocytosis. Your physician then administers chemotherapy. As a part of enrollment in a clinical trial, the patient is to receive Velcade (bortezomib). The treatment begins with the administration of bortezomib, 1.88 mg is given as an IV push over 2 minutes. Your physician administers pamidronate disodium, 60 mg IV over an hour and 40 minutes and 500 ml of Normal saline, over two hours as IV infusion. The IV infusion of normal saline was not infused concurrently with the medications given and ordered for prophylactic reasons to avoid volume depletion and nausea. The patient also gets dexamethasone, 20 mg orally.

Question 1: What procedure codes do you submit for this Medicare patient encounter?

a. 96409-Q1, 96367, 96366, 96361 x2
b. 96363, 96366, 96409
c. 96413-Q1, 96367, 96366
d. 96413-Q1, 96415, 96411

Question 2: What HCPCS level II code(s) do you submit for this Medicare patient encounter?

a. J2430 x 2
b. J2430 x 2, J7050
c. J2430 x 2, J9041 x 188
d. J2430 x 2, J9041 x 188, J1094 x 20

Question 3: What ICD-9-CM code do you submit for this Medicare patient?

a. 288.60
b. 288.50
c. V58.11, 288.50
d. V58.11, 288.60