A dermatology note describes malignant melanoma of the left upper arm excised today. History of breast cancer is mentioned as past and not under treatment. How should the malignancies be distinguished on the physician claim?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Active cancer is the one you're still fighting; history is the scrapbook entry. Melanoma excised today is current and gets a malignancy code. Old breast cancer that's done and not being treated gets a personal-history code—not another active cancer flag.
Full Explanation
Neoplasm coding distinguishes current (active) malignancy from personal history. When melanoma is excised or otherwise treated as a current problem, an active malignant neoplasm code for the documented site is appropriate. A prior breast cancer that is not under treatment and is documented only as history is reported with a personal history of malignant neoplasm code, not as an active primary breast cancer. Collapsing both into unspecified neoplasm coding loses required specificity for professional claims and oncology tracking.