In the Registry Partners October 2023 CTR Coding Break, presenter Monica Reece, RHIT, CTR discusses palliative care definitions as described in our standard setter manuals and goes into detail for the STORE manual palliative care codes. Palliative care reporting tracks care that helps prolong the patient’s life by controlling symptoms, to alleviate pain or to make the patient comfortable.
Pleurx drain placement and thoracentesis procedures are introduced. A pleurx drainage catheter is a thin, flexible tube that’s placed in the chest to drain fluid from the pleural space. A thoracentesis is a needle that is put through the chest wall into the pleural space to remove fluid or air from around the lungs. A thoracentesis may be done diagnostically or to treat symptoms.
Different case scenarios are presented to offer how to document a pleurx drain placement or a thoracentesis with the abstract. As a reminder, if any of the procedures were performed for non-malignant pleural effusion, we would not include it into the abstract.
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