Research & Evidence-Based Practice Flashcards
7 cards from real Certified Medical Coding Specialist practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Research & Evidence-Based Practice flashcards as text
A coder is reviewing a study that concludes a new documentation improvement program increased MS-DRG weight by 0.15. To determine if this is clinically meaningful, the coder should evaluate:
Answer: Both statistical significance and effect size (clinical significance)
A result can be statistically significant but clinically trivial; both significance and effect size must be considered to judge practical importance.
Which ICD-10-CM Official Guideline section governs the selection of the principal diagnosis for inpatient hospital admissions?
Answer: Section II — Selection of Principal Diagnosis
Section II of the ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines specifically addresses the rules for selecting the principal diagnosis for inpatient admissions.
A prospective coding audit collects data on new patient encounters as they occur. Compared to retrospective audits, prospective audits are more useful for:
Answer: Providing real-time feedback to prevent future errors
Prospective audits capture data as events occur, allowing immediate corrective feedback before claims are submitted.
A coder reads a study where the confidence interval for a coding accuracy improvement is 95% CI [−0.02, 0.18]. What does this interval crossing zero suggest?
Answer: The result is not statistically significant at the 0.05 level
When a 95% confidence interval for a difference includes zero, it indicates the result is not statistically significant at the 0.05 alpha level.
A facility wants to benchmark its CC/MCC capture rate against national averages. Which publicly available database would be MOST appropriate for this comparison?
Answer: CMS MedPAR data
CMS MedPAR (Medicare Provider Analysis and Review) data contains national inpatient statistics including DRG distributions used for benchmarking.
In a coding accuracy study, sensitivity is defined as the ability of a coding review process to:
Answer: Correctly identify all true coding errors as errors
Sensitivity (true positive rate) measures how well a process identifies all actual errors among all cases that truly contain errors.
A coder discovers that a 2019 AHA Coding Clinic edition conflicts with a 2023 edition on the same coding scenario. Which guidance should be followed?
Answer: The 2023 edition, as more recent guidance supersedes older guidance
More recent AHA Coding Clinic guidance supersedes older guidance on the same topic, as it reflects updated official interpretation.