• If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ & read the forum rules. To view all forums, post or create a new thread, you must be an AAPC Member. If you are a member and have already registered for member area and forum access, you can log in by clicking here. If you've forgotten the password it can be reset on our sign in section by entering your registered Email Address or Username here. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below..

Diagnosis

M

marlapanday

New
Messages
8
Location
New Milford, NJ
Could someone please advise, how to code Metastic Cancer?
questions just say- Metastic lung CA.
do we code as a Secondary or Primiary?
I am getting mixed feed backs, since nothing else was documented on chart.
eg, where was CA in the first place..
thanks for your feedbacks.
Marla
 
marlapanday said:
Could someone please advise, how to code Metastic Cancer?
questions just say- Metastic lung CA.
do we code as a Secondary or Primiary?
I am getting mixed feed backs, since nothing else was documented on chart.
eg, where was CA in the first place..
thanks for your feedbacks.
Marla
Click to expand...

I think you are getting the terms confused. Metastatic CA is secondary CA, they are interchangeable terms. It has nothing to do with primary vs secondary diagnosis. If the primary location is not documented and you cannot obtain the documentation or it is unknown, then you use 199.1 for unknown. You always sequence first list the one currently undergoing treatment. So if the metastatic site is the one being treated then you use the metastatic(secondary) code first and the primary site secondary. so in your example:
197.0
199.1
 
I would take that statement to mean that the lung cancer is the primary source and that it has metasticized elsewhere in the body.

Here's a definition from the Cancer Treatment Centers of America: "Metastatic lung cancer occurs when lung cancer cells break away from a tumor and travel to other parts of your body through the blood or lymph system."

That said, I would code the lung cancer as the primary and the site of metastases as the secondary, and sequence the codes as noted above by Debra.
 
Apologies, that is correct when stated as metastatic lung cancer you would code as lung primary and secondary unknown. I had my common metastatic sites confused. The ones you auto code as secondary are bone, brain, diaphragm, heart, lymph nodes, mediastinum, meninges, peritoneum, pleura, retroperitoneum, and spinal cord.
So it would be
199.1 for unknown secondary
162.9 for lung primary.
Unknown primary and unknown secondary are the same code.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top