AAPC CPC - Certified Professional Coder (CPC) Exam

The physician performed anorthopedic manipulation of the elbow under anesthesia, which is reported withCPT 24300(manipulation, elbow, under anesthesia). The anesthesia service is separately reported by theanesthesia provider(the anesthesiologist/CRNA) using an anesthesia CPT code, but the question asks specifically what is reportedfor the physicianperforming the manipulation—not the anesthesiologist. Therefore, you donotassign the anesthesia code (e.g., 01710) to the manipulating physician. Option A is incorrect because it includes anesthesia coding under the physician. Options B and D include24605, which represents a different service (not the correct manipulation-under-anesthesia code for this vignette). CPC exam strategy: identifywhois billing (surgeon vs anesthesiologist) and select the CPT code that describes the physician’s operative service. Here, the physician’s work is the manipulation itself, accurately captured by24300alone.

For a procedure involving the placement of a 6-French sheath and catheter into the coronary artery, advancing to the left ventricle, performing ventriculography with power injection of contrast agent, obtaining pressures in the left heart, and imaging the coronary arteries, the correct CPT® code is 93458. This code includes all the components of the described procedure.

The documentation describes making a skin incision off the tip of the twelfth rib and extending medially along the banger’s lines of the skin. The use of electrocautery to gain access through multiple layers of musculature and fascia indicates an open surgical approach. Open surgery involves making a large incision to expose and directly view the surgical site. This is distinct from percutaneous (which involves needles or catheters), laparoscopic (which uses small incisions and a camera), and other minimally invasive techniques.

AMA's CPT® Professional Edition, ICD-10-CM, and HCPCS Level II (current year)

The patient has undergone a left total knee arthroplasty and subsequently received a femoral nerve block for postoperative pain management. CPT code 01402 is used for anesthesia for total knee arthroplasty. Code 64447-59-LT is for a femoral nerve block (single injection) for postoperative pain management, with modifier 59 indicating a distinct procedural service and LT indicating the left side. Therefore, the appropriate codes are 01402 and 64447-59-LT.

00537 = Anesthesia for EP procedures

P1 = Normal healthy patient

1. Procedure and CPT® Code Selection:

The patient delivered her second child vaginally after having a previous cesarean delivery for her first child. This scenario describes a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC).

CPT® Code 59610 is specific for a vaginal delivery after a previous cesarean delivery, including antepartum and postpartum care with the same provider, which matches this case exactly.

2. Rationale for Excluding Other Options:

Code 59410 covers only vaginal delivery with postpartum care but does not include a history of previous cesarean delivery, so it is not appropriate for a VBAC.

Code 59400 is for routine vaginal delivery with antepartum and postpartum care but, again, does not account for a previous cesarean, so it does not apply in this VBAC scenario.

Code 59614 is for a VBAC but does not include antepartum care, making it incomplete for this scenario since the question specifies that antepartum, delivery, and postpartum care were provided by the same provider.

3. AAPC and CPT® Coding Guidelines:

AAPC and CPT® guidelines indicate that 59610 should be used for a complete VBAC service that includes antepartum, delivery, and postpartum care by the same provider.

Therefore, based on CPT® guidelines, the correct answer is B. 59610.

S06.0X1A = Concussion with brief LOC

V40.5XXA = Driver injured in collision with fixed object

V47.5XXA = Car accident, driverExternal cause codes correctly describe mechanism and role.

Frozen section pathology coding rules:

88331 – Frozen section, first tissue block, each specimen

88332 – Frozen section, each additional tissue block, same specimen

Breakdown:

Specimen 1

Block 1 → 88331 × 1

Block 2 → 88332 × 1

Specimen 2

Block 1 → 88331 × 1

Block 2 → 88332 × 1

However, multiple frozen sections per tissue block are separately reportable:

Total first blocks = 4 frozen sections → 88331 × 4

Total additional blocks = 3 frozen sections → 88332 × 3

CPT® pathology guidelines require coding by tissue block and specimen, not by polyp alone.

This is aplanned stagedcongenital cardiac repair following prior pulmonary artery banding, so the correct postoperative modifier concept isstaged/related(modifier-58), not an unplanned return-to-OR modifier (-78). The operative service includesremoval of the pulmonary artery bandandarterial switch/transposition-type repairof the great vessels (captured in the 33778/33779 family in the answer choices). The case also describes use ofECMOwith central cannulation and management during the procedure, which is reported with the appropriate ECMO initiation/management codes shown as33955and the monitoring/assistant-related component represented by33985in the choices. Because this is thesecond stageof care and described as planned definitive repair, the -58 modifier is appropriate on the reported surgical services in these answer constructs. OptionDcorrectly pairs the staged modifier (-58) with the appropriate congenital repair and ECMO-related coding listed in the question’s options.

80143 = Acetaminophen level

80324/80329 = Drug classes, not specific analytes

80299 = Unlisted therapeutic drug assay