Thanks for your response. Here is an example: Dr A might state, "Pt has gastric cancer." (C169) To avoid using an unspecified code, I could query Dr A to provide more detailed information. However, some are interpreting the portion of the Official Guidelines that states "the entire record" to mean we can now go into Dr B's' documentation and see "...patient has gastric cancer in the fundus"(C161), and we can now extrapolate the more specified dx from Dr B's record for Dr A's visit, rather than querying Dr A or applying the unspecified code.
I'll give you my perspective here, but this is probably an area where your facility or organization will also need to give you some guidance or set up a written policy for you to follow. I think the important things is to keep in mind that you are always coding for a specific encounter, not coding for a patient's complete history. When ICD-10 says the 'entire record', I interpret that in the context of the guidelines to mean the entire record of the particular encounter that is being coded, which is not inclusive of all past records that happen to be available to you at the time of coding. That said, there may be cases where your organization will want to you to reference outside records for particular reasons and if that's the case, they should have a process set up for when and how to go about this.
So if you're coding for Dr. A's encounter, then you need to code only from the diagnosis that he or she has documented. You can't pull information from other encounters, because you can't assume that those conditions still exist at this particular encounter, or that your physician agrees with the assessments by those other providers. But it's appropriate to query the physician if you need clarification or if have clinical information available that is relevant to your encounter for which you just need the provider to supply additional documentation that confirms whether or not that condition exists. So in your example, if it's an office visit with Dr. A, and they've documented just 'gastric cancer', then I would just code the C16.9. Personally I wouldn't query for more specificity unless there's a particular need for it in order to meet a payer's medical necessity requirements, or unless your organization requires it for other reasons.
On the other hand, if you're coding for an encounter involving multiple physicians, such as a hospital stay where more than one provider is evaluating and treating the patient, then it is fine to draw from all of the information documented by all providers within that encounter. In that case, it would be appropriate to use another provider's note to get the most specific diagnosis. In the hospital situation, if there is a conflict or contradiction, the facility may have guidelines as to which provider or which note would take priority (e.g. use the attending over the consulting provider, or the discharge note over the admission or daily notes), but there still may be cases where queries are needed for clarification to resolve conflicting information. So in this same example, if Dr. A and Dr. B were both treating the same patient during the same encounter, then I would use the most specific diagnosis.