Q: How is the 1st and 2nd procedure coded in the following melanoma scenario? 1st Procedure: Back lesion, skin punch biopsy of large lesion: Lentiginous malignant melanoma, Clarks level II, 1 mm depth of invasion, ulceration absent, mitoses not identified, all margins are grossly positive. 2nd Procedure: Wide Excision: Residual melanoma, the lesion is .9 cm from the nearest margin. completely excised. A: 1st Procedure is coded to a diagnostic…
Consultant Spotlight: Cari Vida, BS, RHIA, CTR
Cari Vida, BS, RHIA, CTR serves as the Vice President of Quality Control, Education & Training for the Oncology Services Division of Registry Partners Incorporated. Cari directly oversees the daily operations of the Quality Control department and State Central Registry and hospital based state reporting cancer registry projects. She provides direct supervision of the Quality Control Director, State Central Registry and State Report Only Project Directors,…
Updates from the Commission on Cancer Surveyors and Consultants Training
Crystal McDaniel and I attended the Commission on Cancer’s Annual Surveyor and Consultants Training November 13th and 14th in Chicago. Yes, it was the return of arctic temperatures as we walked down Michigan Avenue. This annual training is always in November and it is always windy and freezing cold (though they tell us the weather was great last week or will be great next week!) The Commission on…
Marketing and Promoting Hospital CoC Accreditation
Susan Rubin, Manager of Accreditation Program Business Development, presented findings from a recent survey of CoC accredited programs at the annual surveyors and consultants training in November of 2014. Facilities stated they are not promoting their CoC accreditation due to a variety of reasons. A few examples of responses were lack of funds, decision at the corporate level, not knowing that they could promote the accreditation, promotion…