So I'm doing a little research to answer a question more in depth and found this from Health Choice of Arizona. I know what I think about it and how the guidelines apply, but I wanted to see what some of my tried and true oncology people think.
"My patient is a breast cancer survivor, status post double mastectomy and taking Tamoxifen. Can I code the cancer as current, since she is under treatment, or should I code Z85.3 for the history for breast cancer? A: Since the patient is under treatment with Tamoxifen, choose a code from category C50, malignant neoplasm of breast. ICD-10 coding guidelines note that it is appropriate to code for “active cancer” when the patient is undergoing treatment, even if the malignancy has been excised."
"My patient is a breast cancer survivor, status post double mastectomy and taking Tamoxifen. Can I code the cancer as current, since she is under treatment, or should I code Z85.3 for the history for breast cancer? A: Since the patient is under treatment with Tamoxifen, choose a code from category C50, malignant neoplasm of breast. ICD-10 coding guidelines note that it is appropriate to code for “active cancer” when the patient is undergoing treatment, even if the malignancy has been excised."