Chapter 19 — Quiz

26 questions. Answers and explanations are in the instructor guide.


1. The professional component of a diagnostic service consists of:

  • A. The equipment and supplies
  • B. The physician's supervision where required, and the interpretation and written report
  • C. The technologist's work
  • D. The order for the test

2. A physician reviews an image and discusses it verbally with a colleague. No report is written. The professional component:

  • A. May be reported with modifier 26
  • B. May be reported with modifier 52
  • C. Does not exist; there is no professional component without a written report
  • D. Is included in the E/M service

3. Who bills the technical component?

  • A. Whoever is physically closest to the equipment
  • B. Whoever owns the equipment
  • C. The facility where the patient was seen
  • D. The ordering physician

4. Which file column tells you whether a code may be split into professional and technical components?

  • A. The global period indicator
  • B. The multiple procedure indicator
  • C. The PC/TC indicator
  • D. The bilateral surgery indicator

5. A CT of the abdomen is performed after the patient drank oral contrast. Nothing was administered intravenously. The study is coded:

  • A. With contrast
  • B. Without contrast
  • C. Without followed by with contrast
  • D. With contrast, using modifier 52

6. "With contrast" requires contrast administered:

  • A. By any route
  • B. Orally or rectally
  • C. Intravascularly, intra-articularly, or intrathecally
  • D. Only intravenously

7. A study performed without contrast and then with contrast in one session is reported as:

  • A. Two codes
  • B. One code — "without contrast followed by with contrast"
  • C. One code with two units
  • D. The with-contrast code only

8. An ultrasound report documents six of the eight elements required for a complete study. You report:

  • A. The complete study
  • B. The complete study with modifier 52
  • C. The limited study
  • D. Nothing; query the physician

9. In radiation oncology, treatment management is reported:

  • A. Per visit
  • B. Per week
  • C. Per a defined number of fractions
  • D. Once per course

10. Imaging guidance named in a procedure's descriptor is:

  • A. Separately reportable
  • B. Included; reporting it separately is unbundling
  • C. Reportable with modifier 59
  • D. Reportable only if documented

11. A panel contains fourteen analytes. Thirteen were performed. You report:

  • A. The panel
  • B. The panel with modifier 52
  • C. The thirteen individual tests
  • D. The panel minus one unit

12. All fourteen components of a panel were performed and the coder reports them individually. This is:

  • A. Correct and preferred
  • B. Unbundling, and easily detected without any chart
  • C. Correct if the payer does not recognize the panel
  • D. A units error

13. The unit of service in surgical pathology is:

  • A. The lesion
  • B. The block
  • C. The separately identified and separately submitted specimen
  • D. The pathologist's time

14. Definitive drug testing differs from presumptive testing in that it:

  • A. Is performed on a different specimen type
  • B. Identifies specific drugs and quantities
  • C. Requires a physician's presence
  • D. Is always waived under CLIA

15. A practice collects a specimen and sends it to a reference laboratory. The practice bills:

  • A. The tests
  • B. The tests and the collection
  • C. The specimen collection only
  • D. Nothing

16. The ordering physician's role on a claim for a test performed elsewhere is:

  • A. Rendering provider
  • B. Referring or ordering provider
  • C. Supervising provider
  • D. They do not appear on the claim

17. Which referring-provider denial cause CANNOT be fixed by the billing office?

  • A. The field is blank
  • B. The identifier belongs to the practice rather than the physician
  • C. The ordering physician is not enrolled with the payer
  • D. The name has a spelling difference

18. Provider-performed microscopy requires that the procedure be performed:

  • A. By any laboratory technician on site
  • B. Personally by the provider, during the patient encounter, on a specimen not easily transportable
  • C. In a certified reference laboratory
  • D. Under a Certificate of Compliance

19. Modifier QW identifies:

  • A. A repeat laboratory test
  • B. A CLIA-waived test performed by a waiver site
  • C. A test performed by an outside laboratory
  • D. A test requiring physician interpretation

20. A Certificate of Waiver site bills a moderate-complexity test and it denies for CLIA. The correct response is:

  • A. Resubmit with modifier QW
  • B. Resubmit with the certificate number corrected
  • C. Escalate; the site performed a test its certificate does not cover
  • D. Appeal with the test result attached

21. Modifier 91 is appropriate for:

  • A. A repeat because of equipment failure
  • B. A repeat because the specimen was inadequate
  • C. A medically necessary repeat performed to obtain subsequent results
  • D. Confirming an abnormal result

22. Cardiovascular studies — electrocardiograms, echocardiography, stress testing — appear in which CPT section?

  • A. Surgery
  • B. Medicine
  • C. Radiology
  • D. Pathology and Laboratory

23. The eye codes (general ophthalmological services) are:

  • A. Reported in addition to an E/M office visit
  • B. An alternative to the E/M office visit codes
  • C. Used only for surgical consultations
  • D. Reported only by optometrists

24. A patient receives hydration first, then an antiemetic push, then chemotherapy. The initial service is:

  • A. The hydration, because it was first
  • B. The push, because it was in the middle
  • C. The chemotherapy, because hierarchy overrides chronology
  • D. Whichever took longest

25. An immunization is reported with:

  • A. The vaccine product code only
  • B. The administration code only
  • C. Both the vaccine product code and the administration code
  • D. One combined code

26. A therapist provides 8 minutes of one timed service and 8 minutes of another on the same date. Under the substantial-portion methodology, the units are:

  • A. 2
  • B. 1
  • C. 0
  • D. 3