CPC Trivia 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: How many continuing education units (CEUs) must a CPC holder earn to renew their credential every two years?
- 18
- 24
- 36 (Correct answer)
- 48
Correct answer: 36
CPC credential holders must earn 36 CEUs every two years to maintain their AAPC certification in good standing.
Question 2: What does the ICD-10-CM abbreviation NOS stand for?
- Not Otherwise Specified (Correct answer)
- No Organ Specified
- Not on Schedule
- None of the Stated
Correct answer: Not Otherwise Specified
NOS stands for 'Not Otherwise Specified,' used when the coder lacks enough information to assign a more specific code.
Question 3: Which CPT code range covers Evaluation and Management (E/M) services?
- 90000–90899
- 99000–99499
- 99201–99499 (Correct answer)
- 98000–99000
Correct answer: 99201–99499
E/M codes occupy the range 99202–99499 in the CPT codebook, covering office visits, hospital care, consultations, and more.
Question 4: Which federal law primarily governs the privacy of patient health information relevant to medical coders?
- EMTALA
- HIPAA (Correct answer)
- HITECH
- Stark Law
Correct answer: HIPAA
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) establishes the national standards for protecting patient health information that medical coders must follow.
Question 5: What does the 'global surgical package' concept mean in CPT coding?
- Billing all surgeries under one code per hospitalization
- A single fee covering the pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative care for a surgery (Correct answer)
- Reporting surgical codes only with anesthesia codes
- Using one code for all procedures performed during the same session
Correct answer: A single fee covering the pre-operative, intra-operative, and post-operative care for a surgery
The global surgical package bundles pre-op, intra-op, and post-op care into one surgical fee so those services are not separately billed.
Question 6: In ICD-10-CM, what does a dagger symbol (†) next to a code indicate in some references?
- The code is a deleted or retired code
- An etiology code that must be used with a manifestation code (Correct answer)
- A code restricted to inpatient use only
- The code is optional and not required for billing
Correct answer: An etiology code that must be used with a manifestation code
A dagger symbol marks an etiology (cause) code that is conventionally paired with a manifestation code marked by an asterisk.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes the 'correct coding initiative' (CCI) edits used by CMS?
- A list of codes that require prior authorization
- Automated prepayment edit pairs that prevent improper bundling of codes (Correct answer)
- Guidelines for selecting the correct E/M level
- Rules that define which diagnoses require inpatient admission
Correct answer: Automated prepayment edit pairs that prevent improper bundling of codes
CCI (Correct Coding Initiative) edits are automated prepayment claim edits that identify code pairs that should not be billed together due to bundling rules.
CPC Trivia 5
How many continuing education units (CEUs) must a CPC holder earn to renew their credential every two years?