In the United States alone, there were 48,183 deaths resulting from suicide, compared to an estimated 1,700,000 suicide attempts in 2021. Suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal thoughts is a growing issue and can have lasting impacts on millions of people and their families. While some of the biggest risk factors of suicide include previous suicide attempts, mood disorders, substance abuse disorders, and access to lethal means,…
The August 2023 CTR Coding Break discusses coding radiation therapy. Registrar’s are encouraged to utilize the CTR Guide to Coding Radiation for coding radiation therapy treatment which is now available within the 2023 STORE Manual Appendix R. Today’s coding break objectives include: Clarification on phase terminology and coding instruction, Coding the treatment volume when the primary site organ has been removed, and coding instruction for adding…
January 2023 brought significant changes to abstracting and coding melanoma of the skin. In this brief presentation we will review the addition of the new surgery fields “RX Summ Surg 2023” and “RX Hosp Surg 2023” and show the major differences between the pre-2023 surgery fields (Surgical Procedure of Primary Site & Surgical Procedure of Primary Site at this Facility) and the new 2023 surgery fields….
The Surgical Diagnostic and Staging Procedure data field is most commonly assigned a code 02 for biopsy that obtains tissue of the primary site, as this is a direct way to identify the histologic type of cancer through a microscopic evaluation. But what about the less common Surgical Diagnostic Staging Procedure codes, such as code 05? The Standards for Oncology Registry Entry (STORE) 2023 describes Surgical…
