Wiki Neoplasm current vs history codes

[CBC]

I would just like to clarify 2 situations:
If a breast cancer patient is being treated with medication for a 5 year period, is this still considered current care due to continued treatment?
If a patient just completed their last chemo treatment 2wks ago and just came back for a recheck - is this now history due to treatment completed?

Also, can someone tell me a circumstance that it would be appropriate to use the code for tobacco remission versus tobacco history?

Thank you for advice,
Deb

 

[mitchellde]

as long as the neoplasm is being treated we code as current. A breast cancer patient does remain on treatment for as much as 7 years with tamoxifen or one of its equivalents. If the drugs purpose is to combat cancer cells then the cancer is coded as current. If the treatment has all stopped and no other treatment is to be applied and the disease is documented as no evidence, then it is coded as history of. it is not how many days or weeks out of therapy, it is whether it is still being treated.
tobacco remission is up to the provider to document as to the status being in remission or history of, if you cannot tell by the documentation what is being communicated, then you will need to query the provider.