You Be the Coder:
V10 Use Has a Defined Start Time
Published on Mon Feb 07, 2011
Question: We have a patient who had a colon resection for cancer over six months ago. Two months following surgery, he had a Mediport inserted for chemotherapy. The patient has completed the course of treatment and is in remission. Shouldn't the diagnosis be "history of colon cancer" for his follow-up exams?Answer: You are correct. If all treatment directed toward the cancer is complete and there are no indications of current disease, you should use a history of cancer code instead of a cancer code.Do this: Report the reason for the encounter as V10.05 (Personal history of malignant neoplasm of large intestine). Take care to choose the "personal" history code and not the family history code (V16.0, Family history of malignant neoplasm of gastrointestinal tract). You also should not report the cancer diagnosis, 153.3 (Malignant neoplasm of sigmoid colon), for this patient encounter.Support: ICD-9 official guidelines state, "When a primary malignancy [...]
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