KimWhiley
New
We are a smaller hospital that has many outside providers that come into our facility to provide service. We have two oncologists that come in that we code for. In trying to arrive at what E/M level the oncology patient should be, under the complexity of problems addressed from the grid, can we count the cancer as a "chronic illness that poses a threat to life or bodily function" throughout the duration of the time the patient is being treated for cancer or just if the illness is posing a threat to life on the day they are seen such as a heart attack would be. As an example: patient is seen for lung cancer, is getting chemotherapy but is doing fine while on the chemotherapy but if not getting the chemotherapy would likely succumb from the lung cancer, then does this pose a threat to life or bodily function.