Wiki Features of

[nyckimmie]

Hello Coders, Would "features of" be considered and uncertain term for facility outpatient coding? for example a pathology report: endometrial curettings : features of endometrial polyp. I'd like to hear others opinions and any official advice would really be appreciated. Currently, the quality dept. at my facility states that it is an uncertain term. Coding clinic ICD 1st qtr. 2023 has a question regarding small cell lung cancer w/neuroendocrine feature, that advises to code it as a neuroendocrine tumor. That got me questioning our Quality Depts. advice that "features of" is an uncertain dx, since they have no official guidance or rationale. Thanks for any response.

 

[thomas7331]

In general I would agree with your quality department - if a provider is stating that the patient symptoms are ‘features of’ a particular diagnosis, that would indicate to me that the provider has not definitively selected that diagnosis yet. But I think you have to look at the full context of the note to see how the provider is using the term. The example you’re citing from Coding Clinic is only one specific instance where a diagnosis has been made and the pathological features are being used for specificity. I wouldn’t generalize from that guidance to assume that the term ‘features’ would be interpreted the same way in other contexts.