Ace the Certified Risk Adjustment Coder (CRC) Challenge 2025 – Crunch the Code and Rock Your Role!

A cancer diagnosis is considered current when the patient is documented as receiving active treatment for the disease. In the context of risk adjustment coding, this reflects the ongoing management and monitoring of the disease, which are critical for accurately capturing the patient's health status.

While a patient diagnosed within the last five years may have ongoing implications, this timeframe alone does not denote that the cancer is active. Similarly, documentation of remission indicates that the disease is not currently active, and therefore, it wouldn’t warrant a current coding for cancer.

The idea that once diagnosed, a patient is always coded as active does not align with the guidelines for accurate coding practices, which require that current diagnoses reflect the patient's present health status rather than merely historical data about their condition. Thus, the coding is contingent on the patient's active treatment status, affirming that it is essential to capture the patient's current state accurately for risk assessment purposes.