Wiki Colon Cancer Screening Guidelines

oceangirl752002

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How specific are the guidelines for screening? I know it's every 10 years, but is it exact date to exact date (1.1.08 - 1.1.18) or just by calendar year? I had a pt come in for a screening on 2/6/18 and previous was 12/29/08 which technically is less than 10 years. Any thoughts/clarification is appreciated.
 
For a ten-year interval, I don't think it's anything you need to worry about. Does the patient still have the same insurance policy or coverage that they did in 2008? Even if they do, I don't know of any payers that retain 10 years of claims data in their systems, so I would be extremely surprised if you received a denial for the services being less than exactly ten years apart. If the provider feels that it's appropriate to do the screening at 9 years and 2 months instead of 10 years, I wouldn't be concerned.
 
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Just an FYI if this were Medicare it would have to be 10 years to the day.
 
We always try to make it 10 years plus 1 day, just to be on the safe side. Medicare is the only payer I know of that is very strict about that. If the patient comes in sooner than the 10 year mark and they are average risk, even if Medicare did not pay for the one almost 10 years ago, we have had them deny it.
 
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