Q: What is the date of 1st contact? Patient presents to another facility and is diagnosed with lung cancer. The patient has a medical oncology consult at your facility 5/1/14. The patient and physician opt for chemotherapy as first course of therapy. The patient begins chemotherapy on 5/21/14.
A: 5/21/14: Per FORDS the date of 1st contact is the date the case becomes analytic. If the patient never returned from the 5/1/14 consult, the case would not be analytic. The date the case becomes analytic is the date the chemotherapy began on 5/21/14. The patient is a non-analytic case at the time of the 5/1/14 consult.