III.3.1 Date of First Contact

For cases diagnosed January 1, 2010 and forward, or following installation of CSv2 software, see Section I.1.6.4 and Section I.1.6.5 for Coding and Entering Dates.

For Inpatients, enter the first date of admission as an inpatient for the reportable neoplasm, or the actual date when the diagnosis of a reportable neoplasm was made during a hospitalization.

For Outpatients, enter the date first diagnosed, treated, or seen as an outpatient for the reportable neoplasm.

Consult with your software vendor for specific data entry instructions.

Per SEER Clarification, effective January 1, 2012 Forward:

Date of first contact is the admission date when the patient was an inpatient or an outpatient at your facility for:

• Work-up of suspected cancer

Example:  Patient has a suspected cancer.  As an inpatient for work-up or first-course treatment, the date of first contact is the date of admission to the facility.  

• Any part of the first-course treatment for known cancer

Example:  If a patient is diagnosed elsewhere and was seen for preliminary planning for radiation.  The patient is sent elsewhere for surgery and does not return for radiation until after a lengthy recovery.  The Date of First Contact is the date the patient returned for radiation treatment.  The date of the radiation work-up is not the Date of First Contact.

Patients admitted for other causes:

• When cancer is an incidental finding for patients hospitalized for another condition, the date of first contact is the date the cancer was first suspected
• Autopsy-only cases
• Date of first contact is date of death

 

<< Prev.       Next >>