Oncology & Hematology Coding Alert

Question: Which diagnosis code should we use when we perform ECGs on asymptomatic patients to monitor the affect of chemotherapy on their hearts, and the results are normal?Wisconsin SubscriberAnswer: When the patient is asymptomatic, you should report "special screening" V code, V81.x (Special screening for cardiovascular, respiratory, and genitourinary disease ...).Choose the fourth character based on the documentation:V81.0 -- ... ischemic heart diseaseV81.1 -- ... hypertensionV81.2 -- ... other and unspecified cardiovascular conditions.Watch for: Some payers may not reimburse a screening exam. If you expect that your payer won't reimburse you for a screening, consider obtaining an advance beneficiary notice (ABN) for Medicare patients, or similar waiver for non-Medicare patients, in which the patient agrees to cover the cost of the test if the payer won't. For Medicare, remember to append the appropriate modifier to the procedure code to indicate you have the ABN on file. For more on ABN modifiers, visit