V-code as primary dx for chemo

[wbradhoward]

I was hoping someone could tell me when it is appropriate to use V58.11 as the primary diagnosis in an inpatient hospital setting. I understand it is when the "sole purpose of the encounter is for chemotherapy", but would you continue to use this code throughout a patient's admission, even if chemo is discontinued at some point? Any help is appreciated.

[mitchellde]

without knowing more info the answer is yes. But are you coding facility or physician? did the patient's condition change?

[wbradhoward]

sorry - I am coding for the physician.

The patient's status did not change, other than the drug was stopped.

I will re-word my scenario:

The patient was admitted to the hospital for the sole purpose of chemotherapy, recieved chemo on days 1-5 of the admission, on day 6 it states: chemo stopped. The patient stayed in the hospital for a couple more days, possibly to monitor the effects of chemo, to control nausea, etc.

So the admission was for chemotherapy; I feel comfortable using the v58.11 as primary followed by the cancer code for days 1-5 at least, but the specific encounters on days 7, 8, 9 the pt did not have chemo administered. Yet the pt wouldn't have been in the hospital on days 7, 8, 9 if not for the admission for chemo, so by that argument I should still use v-code as primary.

clear as mud?

thanks for your help!