In the previous newsletter, guidelines for reporting the Last Contact Date were published. While these guidelines are not new, additional clarification is needed to address issues regarding the LCD.

In general, the date of contact (LCD) should be reported as close to the 100 day, six month, or annual anniversary to transplant as possible. Report the date of actual contact with the recipient to evaluate medical status for the reporting period. Preferred evaluations include those from the transplant center physician, referring physician, or other physician currently assuming responsibility for the recipient's care. In the absence of contact with a physician, other types of contact may include a documented phone call with the recipient, a laboratory evaluation, or any other documented recipient interaction on the date reported. If there was no contact on the exact time point, choose the date of contact closest to the actual time point. Below, the guidelines show an ideal approximate range for reporting each post-transplant time point:

Recipients are not always seen within the approximate ranges and some discretion is required when determining the date of contact to report. In that case, report the date closest to the date of contact within reason. The examples following assume that efforts were undertaken to retrieve outside medical records from the primary care provider, but source documentation was not available.

Read more . . . (see examples)