The Registry Partners June 2020 CTR Coding Break discusses grade clinical and grade pathological for the bladder site. The presentation reviews the clinical and pathological timeframe, grade notes, priority order, and reviews common questions. A TURBT, transurethral resection of a bladder tumor qualifies for clinical grade only. A cystectomy or partial cystectomy must be performed to qualify for grade pathological. Grade Pathological Note 2 instructs…

  The Registry Partners May 2020 CTR Coding Break reviews the 2018 SEER Coding and Staging Manual Appendix C for site-specific coding modules. Appendix C provides site-specific instructions to help abstract a case efficiently and accurately. Some modules include site-specific coding guidelines for coding primary site including priority order, the extent of disease, solid tumor rules, and surgery codes. The presentation focuses on the breast and…

  The April CTR Coding Break reviews the STORE data item – Date of First Contact. A brief overview is provided with STORE page numbers along with a working example. The STORE manual instructs to record the date the patient first had contact with the facility as either an inpatient or outpatient for diagnosis and/or first-course treatment of a reportable tumor. For analytic cases, the date…

The Registry Partners March 2020 CTR Coding Break discusses Radiation. Coding for radiation treatment has changed significantly for cases beginning with a diagnosis date of 01/01/2018 to provide NCDB with a more complete and accurate description of contemporary radiation treatment. The following is a brief description with several examples taken directly from the CTR Guide to Coding Radiation Therapy Treatment v2.0, February 2020. The NCDB clarification…