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97 multiple-choice questions and 15 flashcards on CPT Coding — Surgery, Radiology, Pathology, Medicine, about 56% of the Medical Coder bank. Every one carries a written rationale.
CPT Coding — Surgery, Radiology, Pathology, Medicine is one of 6 chapters in CoStudy's Medical Coder (CPC/AAPC) bank, and it holds 97 of the bank's 173 multiple-choice questions — roughly 56% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.
Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.
10 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.
ASA P1 modifier indicates:
Answer: D — Normal healthy patient
A) P3. B) Correct. C) P5. D) P6.
Screening colonoscopy on average-risk Medicare patient converted to diagnostic when polyp found and removed by snare:
Answer: C — 45385
45385 = colonoscopy with polyp removal by snare. Append modifier -PT to indicate screening converted to diagnostic.
Ultrasound, retroperitoneal (eg, renal, aorta, nodes), complete:
Answer: D — 76770
76770 = retroperitoneal complete. 76775 = limited. 76776 = transplant kidney with Doppler. 76830 = transvaginal ultrasound.
Total knee arthroplasty is reported with:
Answer: B — 27447
27447 = total knee arthroplasty (TKA). 27446 = unicompartmental. 27486/27487 = revision.
Trabeculectomy (glaucoma filtering surgery) without prior surgery is reported with:
Answer: B — 66170
A) 65850 is trabeculotomy by external approach, a related but distinct glaucoma procedure. B) Correct — 66170 is fistulization of sclera for glaucoma (trabeculectomy), without prior surgery. C) 66172 is the same procedure WITH a scarring condition requiring a graft, a more complex variant. D) 66761 is iridotomy/iridectomy by laser, unrelated to trabeculectomy.
Lumbar epidural steroid injection at a single level:
Answer: C — 62323
62321 = cervical/thoracic with imaging. 62322 = lumbar/sacral without imaging. 62323 = lumbar/sacral WITH imaging guidance.
Bone marrow aspiration only:
Answer: A — 38220
38220 = bone marrow aspiration only. 38221 = biopsy only. 38222 = both aspiration and biopsy (same session).
Laryngoscopy, direct, diagnostic, with operating microscope:
Answer: B — 31526
31525 = direct laryngoscopy diagnostic. 31526 = with operating microscope or telescope. 31528 = with dilation. 31535 = with biopsy.
Pericardiocentesis is:
Answer: A — 33010
33010 = pericardiocentesis, initial. 33011 = subsequent. 33015 = tube pericardiostomy. 33020 = pericardiotomy for removal of clot.
Urinalysis, automated with microscopy:
Answer: B — 81001
81000 = non-automated with microscopy. 81001 = automated with microscopy. 81002 = non-automated without microscopy. 81003 = automated without micro.
4 cards from the 15 in this chapter.
ASA physical status modifiers?
P1 = normal healthy. P2 = mild systemic disease. P3 = severe. P4 = constant threat. P5 = moribund. P6 = brain-dead organ donor.
Professional vs. technical component?
Professional (-26): physician interpretation. Technical (-TC): equipment, supplies, tech. Global = both. Affects payment + facility/non-facility split.
Vaccine codes?
Product code (90460-90474) + administration code. Example: flu vaccine + 90686 (Flu vaccine, IIV4) + 90471 (administration first vaccine).
CPT categories?
Category I (standard procedures, 00100-99499). Category II (performance measurement, 4-digit + F). Category III (emerging tech, 4-digit + T).
These are a sample. The full CPT Coding — Surgery, Radiology, Pathology, Medicine chapter runs 112 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.
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