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Gastroenterology Coding Alert

Reader Questions:

Put Colonoscopy Dx in the Right Order

Published on Wed Jul 28, 2010

Question:A patient comes in for screening colonoscopy that turns therapeutic. Could you clarify the diagnosis codes, and the order which I should use them?Tennessee SubscriberAnswer: On cases of screening colonoscopy turning therapeutic, you should report V76.51 (Screening malignant neoplasms colon) as the first diagnosis, and 211.3 (Benign neoplasm colon) as the second. This is the correct ordering of codes according to more recent Medicare advice, although it was reversed in the past.Why: Medicare tries to capture data on colorectal cancer screening success, and they need to have the screening code V76.51 listed first for the database.
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