SEER Inquiry System - Question 20110058 Details

If an abstractor follows the instructions for coding the Date of Diagnosis and can at least estimate a year of diagnosis, in what scenario will the Flag be used?

Per the 2010 SEER Manual,

Page 49 Date of Diagnosis, second paragraph, "Regardless of the format, at least Year of diagnosis must be known or estimated. Year of diagnosis cannot be blank or unknown." The manual gives the following guidelines for coding diagnosis date/flag:

Page 50, Coding Instructions:

3. If no information about the date of diagnosis is available

a. Use the date of admission as the date of diagnosis

b. In the absence of an admission date, code the date of first treatment as the date of diagnosis.

Page 51, Coding Instructions:

9. Estimate the date of diagnosis if an exact date is not available. Use all information available to calculate the month and year of diagnosis.

Page 53, Date of Diagnosis Flag, Coding Instructions:

Always leave blank. Date of Diagnosis will always be a full or partial date recorded.