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I got a style error minor deduction for this, because it could also refer to "benign prostatic hyperplasia." I was actually aware of this terminology controversy in the medical community in terms of what the actual meaning is, but I've never once had "benign prostatic hyperplasia" dictated in over 18 years of MT, regardless (has anyone else?). However, I should somehow intuit that Nuance wants it done this way (though I've been expanding it for over 2 years now with never a correction before) and was given a point deduction rather than an "FYI" NonError. Though I guess if they actually say "benign prostatic hypertrophy" anywhere else in the report (rather than just saying BPH throughout the report, never once expanded, as in this case), then you'd get dinged if you didn't expand it.
Forewarned is forearmed. I just can't believe this place sometimes.
Like I said, I was aware that it is a misnomer* (so, technically speaking, we should always be changing it to benign prostatic hyperplasia, hah, like melenic vs. melenotic/melanotic), though I've never, ever once had "benign prostatic hyperplasia" dictated (would still love to hear if any others have). The dictators obviously haven't caught up to this misnomer at all, the way they somewhat have with IUGR (restriction vs. retardation), for example, and I'm sure they nearly all consider the term benign prostatic hypertrophy perfectly synonymous with benign prostatic hyperplasia (what the condition really is).
Like I said, just a warning. You might need to be careful with IUGR too, if that ever comes up.
Despite what some posters are implying in the below thread, you wouldn't be "changing that patient's diagnosis" by using hypertrophy instead of hyperplasia, since benign prostatic hypertrophy doesn't even really exist. They're not 2 separate conditions; benign prostatic hypertrophy is exactly the same diagnosis as benign prostatic hyperplasia, just an historically inaccurate way of saying it.
http://forum.mtstars.com/285688.html
*BPH involves hyperplasia (an increase in the number of cells) rather than hypertrophy (a growth in the size of individual cells), but the two terms are often used interchangeably, even amongst urologists.[1]
Once again, there technically is no such thing as benign prostatic hypertrophy.
"Prostate disorders, excluding prostate cancer, are located within category codes 600 to 602 in the Tabular List of Diseases. One of the most common prostate diseases is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). ... Sometimes physicians call this disorder benign prostatic hypertrophy, although that is a misnomer because BPH causes the gland to enlarge from an increased number of cells (hyperplasia), whereas hypertrophy causes enlargement of an organ from the enlargement of the cells themselves (e.g., muscle hypertrophy occurs from weight lifting)."
Is there a difference with this in the upcoming ICD-10-CM compared to 9? (see link) I hate to think of patients being charged differently for what is really, truly the same thing.
http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/N00-N99/N40-N53/N40-/N40
[Edit: p.s. Yes, I see what you mean, amazing. Are there are actually different charges for 600.00/01 vs. 600.90/91? Or I guess that would be facility/office specific? And please don't CAP at me with any more replies; I haven't yelled at you, and I'm trying to be respectful, despite the tone you initially took.]
ICD-9 codes covered if selection criteria are met: | |
598.0 - 598.9 | Urethral stricture |
600.00 - 600.01 | Hypertrophy (benign) of prostate |
600.10 - 600.11 | Nodular prostate |
600.20 - 600.21 | Benign localized hyperplasia of prostate |
600.90 - 600.91 | Hyperplasia of prostate, unspecified |
http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/1_99/0079.html
VERSUS OTHER WAYS OF SHOWING EMPHASIS ̢ۥ AS BEING RUDE. (You get a pass, though. This time. )
It's common Internet knowledge, and if that poster doesn't know it yet, it's about time they learned. Especially on a forum that gives you the options of a Rich Text Editor with italics and underlining and bold, etc. Or one can even just use asterisks (like I do sometimes, especially when I've forgotten to switch to Rich Text) or such.
Hey, out of curiosity, about how old is your "benign prostatic hyperplasia" doc? Younger, I'd guess?
Thank you, I definitely shouldn't have been penalized, just a NonError Comment if they wanted to make it known. This is my biggest kvetch about Nuance QA ... the lack of use of FYI-like NonErrors instead of actual deductions for these kinds of issues. The inconsistencies with QA are never-ending. Next week I'll probably be told I should have expanded BPH to benign prostatic hypertrophy, and then I'll have to copy and send this QA's decision to dispute that.
I'm beyond exhausted with trying to cope with the constantly changing goalposts. The game is so rigged against us that it seems stupid to even attempt to play. I know a lot here have given up as far as bothering with disputing Fiesa anymore (or even reading it) ... almost hoping I can get to that state of hopelessness soon myself, meh. I'm very, very close to it.
I basically agree with you, it really should be like "melena" in that we just change the dictated misnomer to the correct term, but I wouldn't be willing to risk it on this one yet, at least not at Nuance. Per the feedback I got, we can't know what was "intended." And supposedly there may be different charges based on which word is used, though that wasn't really answered by those "in the know" and makes no sense and hopefully is really simply a doubling-up coding-wise in order to make it easier for them to just choose one or the other and not have to query a dictator; if not, and patients are really being charged differently based on benign prostatic hypertrophy vs. hyperplasia in a medical record, I sure hope someone finds out and makes a big stink about it because that would be unfair and I'd think even possibly illegal since they are indeed referring to exactly the same medical condition.
So unless hyperplasia or hypertrophy is actually dictated in full elsewhere in the nondiagnostic section of the report, I'm now going to leave as a blank with BPH in parens behind it when given as a diagnosis, as per poster MT's suggestion (which does correspond with BOS directives), i.e., _____ (BPH).
However, BOS-3 also states: 9.1.8 Multiple/Uncertain Meanings
"When an abbreviated diagnosis, conclusion, or operative title is dictated and the abbreviation used is not familiar or has multiple meanings, the meaning may be discerned if the originator uses the extended term elsewhere in the dictation or if the content of the report somehow makes the meaning obvious. If the extended form cannot be determined in this way and there is easy and immediate access to the patient’s record or to the person who dictated the report, the MT should use these as resources to determine the meaning. If these attempts are unsuccessful, the abbreviated form should be transcribed as dictated and the report flagged with a request for the originator to provide the extended form." (emphasis mine)
I'm not going to pend/flag for this (unless account specs require it in terms of number of allowable blanks), nor am I going to check past records to see which version might have been used because there's no way for me to know for sure without also checking the voice file whether just the initialism BPH or the extended version was really dictated in other reports. Like I said before, I'd be willing to bet that more than a few instances of "benign prostatic hyperplasia" are actually due to MTs or MTSOs/QAs making a decision just like you mentioned above, not reflecting what was actually dictated (or intended, since no way to know that if only BPH is dictated throughout the report).