Health Information Management

Editor's note: Correction

HIM Connection, December 29, 2009

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Editor’s note: We regret the error in last week’s Q&A on coding anemia due to antineoplastic chemotherapy, which should have read as follows:

Q: Can you explain the new ICD-9 guidelines for coding anemia due to antineoplastic chemotherapy and provide an example?

A: Anemia due to antineoplastic chemotherapy and antineoplastic chemotherapy-induced anemia are synonymous. Report them both with 285.3. Report 285.22 for anemia secondary to a malignancy, a form of chronic anemia. When both conditions occur in the same patient—and a physician properly documents both—report codes 285.3 and 285.22. For example, a patient is maintained on cisplatinum for non–small cell carcinoma of the lung. The physician documents that before the chemotherapy begins, the patient has anemia secondary to the lung cancer (285.22). If upon initiation of the chemotherapy and cisplatinum, the patient’s anemia progresses, and the physician then documents the condition as anemia due to the chemotherapy (285.3), then in this scenario, report 285.22 and 285.3.
 
Editor’s note: William E. Haik, MD, director of DRG Review, Inc., in Fort Walton Beach, FL, answered this question in the December issue of Briefings on Coding Compliance.



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