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| Section | Weight | Objectives |
|---|---|---|
| Topic 1: Impact of reportable diagnoses on quality of care | 8.33% | - Mortality, severity of illness, and risk of mortality - Quality metrics, reporting programs, and financial impact |
| Topic 2: Healthcare regulations, reimbursement, and documentation requirements related to the IPPS | 12.5% | - IPPS, MS-DRGs, reimbursement, and medical necessity - CC/MCC, CMI, Medicare contractors, and compliance |
| Topic 3: Communication skills | 9.17% | - Physician education and effective communication - CDI and coding roles and interdisciplinary collaboration |
| Topic 4: Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting | 14.17% | - Principal and secondary diagnosis assignment - Coding guidelines, AHA Coding Clinic, HACs, and POA indicators |
| Topic 5: Healthcare facility CDI program analysis | 8.33% | - Data analysis, forecasting, and performance measurement - CDI productivity, provider response, CMI, and program metrics |
| Topic 6: Professionalism, ethics, and compliance | 9.17% | - Query compliance, DRG creep, and audit risks - Confidentiality, DRG compliance, and ethical CDI practices |
| Topic 7: Medical record documentation | 19.17% | - Documentation clarification and compliant physician queries - Documentation requirements and diagnosis or procedure code assignment |
| Topic 8: Anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and medical terminology | 19.17% | - Clinical conditions and clinical indicators - Anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and terminology |
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NEW QUESTION # 25
A CDI specialist reviews a prior hospitalization and finds that the patient previously had chronic systolic heart failure. During the current admission, the provider documents only "history of CHF," although the patient remains on long-term heart-failure therapy. What is the BEST approach?
Answer: B
Explanation:
Prior-encounter information may provide valuable clinical context, but it should not automatically be imported as a current reportable diagnosis without considering whether the condition remains active and relevant to the present encounter.
Here, a prior diagnosis of chronic systolic heart failure, ongoing heart-failure therapy, and ambiguous current wording such as "history of CHF" create a reasonable opportunity to clarify the patient's current heart-failure status if that information is clinically relevant.
The CDI specialist should not independently carry forward the previous diagnosis or escalate it to acute heart failure. Conversely, rigidly ignoring reliable prior clinical information can prevent identification of legitimate documentation gaps.
The 2026 ACDIS/AHIMA query guidance specifically includes the role of prior encounters as part of its updated query-practice framework, while emphasizing compliant provider clarification and accurate representation of the current patient's clinical status.
A query should make clear which current clinical indicators support the need for clarification and should not imply that a previous diagnosis must automatically remain valid.
CCDS Reference Topics: Prior encounters; chronic conditions; heart failure; query practice; current- encounter documentation.
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NEW QUESTION # 26
A CDI specialist reviews the MS-DRG mismatch report and notes a difference in a case. The coder noted that a current Coding Clinic affects the final coding of the record, which changed the MS-DRG assignment. To BEST understand this discrepancy, the specialist should FIRST:
Answer: B
Explanation:
The CDI specialist should first review the final coded record together with the Coding Clinic guidance identified by the coder. This provides an objective basis for understanding why the final MS-DRG differs from the CDI working DRG.
A mismatch does not automatically indicate that either CDI or coding made an error. Working DRGs are provisional and may change after complete review of discharge documentation, operative reports, pathology, final diagnostic information, coding conventions, official guidelines, or authoritative Coding Clinic advice.
Reviewing the applicable guidance before contacting the coder promotes an informed and efficient reconciliation process. Once the specialist understands the coding rule, discussion with the coder may still be useful if ambiguity remains. Immediately escalating to the coding manager is unnecessary unless the issue cannot be resolved through normal collaboration. Forwarding the record without investigating the mismatch would defeat the purpose of a reconciliation process and could allow recurring education opportunities to remain unidentified.
Mismatch analysis is a valuable CDI quality metric because it can identify documentation gaps, coding- knowledge issues, changes in authoritative guidance, and opportunities to improve CDI/coding alignment.
CCDS Reference Topics: MS-DRG reconciliation; CDI/coder collaboration; Coding Clinic application; CDI program analysis.
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NEW QUESTION # 27
A patient with active breast cancer is admitted solely to receive a scheduled cycle of antineoplastic chemotherapy. No complication or acute disease process is responsible for the admission. Which diagnosis is generally sequenced first?
Answer: A
Explanation:
When an inpatient encounter is solely for administration of chemotherapy, the encounter-for-chemotherapy code is generally sequenced first, followed by the code identifying the malignancy being treated.
This represents an important exception to the usual expectation that the underlying disease is the principal diagnosis. The circumstances of admission are specifically treatment administration rather than management of an acute complication of the malignancy.
If, however, the patient were admitted because of a complication-such as chemotherapy-induced neutropenic fever, dehydration, anemia, or another adverse effect-the principal-diagnosis analysis would follow the applicable guideline for that condition rather than automatically using the chemotherapy encounter code.
Similarly, if chemotherapy were administered incidentally during a hospitalization principally required for another condition, the encounter-for-chemotherapy code would not displace the actual principal diagnosis.
CDI professionals should therefore distinguish planned treatment encounters from admissions caused by complications of treatment or malignancy.
Clear documentation regarding the reason for admission, cancer site, treatment intent, metastatic disease, and complications helps support proper sequencing and accurate oncology data.
CCDS Reference Topics: Antineoplastic chemotherapy; encounter codes; neoplasm sequencing; principal diagnosis; oncology documentation.
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NEW QUESTION # 28
A neurologist documents acute cerebral infarction. A qualified stroke nurse records the NIH Stroke Scale score in the medical record. Which statement is MOST accurate?
Answer: A
Explanation:
ICD-10-CM permits the NIH Stroke Scale score to be reported from documentation by an appropriate clinician other than the provider responsible for establishing the diagnosis. The underlying stroke diagnosis itself must be appropriately documented by the provider.
This is similar to other specified exceptions such as BMI, pressure-ulcer stage, coma scale values, and certain additional clinical elements for which qualified non-provider documentation may support code assignment.
The exception does not mean that a stroke nurse can independently establish cerebral infarction for coding.
Rather, once the provider has documented the stroke, the nurse's formal NIHSS assessment can supply the standardized severity measurement.
This approach recognizes that specially trained clinical professionals routinely collect and document these structured measurements as part of patient care.
If multiple NIHSS values are documented, the applicable coding instructions and timing requirements should be followed rather than simply selecting the highest score because it produces a different code.
For CDI professionals, awareness of these non-provider documentation exceptions prevents unnecessary physician queries while ensuring that important severity information is not lost.
CCDS Reference Topics: NIH Stroke Scale; cerebral infarction; non-provider documentation; coding exceptions; stroke severity.
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NEW QUESTION # 29
A patient is admitted with sepsis due to an E. coli urinary tract infection. The provider also documents acute kidney injury due to the sepsis and "severe sepsis without septic shock." Which sequencing is most appropriate?
Answer: C
Explanation:
When severe sepsis is documented, coding requires the underlying systemic infection first, followed by the appropriate severe-sepsis code and additional code(s) for the acute organ dysfunction. Therefore, the sepsis code is sequenced first, followed by the severe-sepsis code and acute kidney injury.
The FY 2026 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines state that severe sepsis requires at least two codes: one for the underlying systemic infection and another from subcategory R65.2-. Additional codes identify associated acute organ dysfunction. A code from R65.2- cannot serve as the principal diagnosis.
The UTI identifies the localized source but does not replace the systemic infection as principal diagnosis when sepsis is the condition chiefly responsible for admission. Likewise, the AKI is a manifestation of the severe systemic process and is not sequenced before the sepsis in this scenario.
For CDI specialists, the essential documentation element is the relationship between sepsis and the acute organ dysfunction. Organ dysfunction alone does not automatically permit severe-sepsis coding; provider documentation must establish the association when it is not inherent.
CCDS Reference Topics: Sepsis; severe sepsis; organ dysfunction; sequencing; principal diagnosis.
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NEW QUESTION # 30
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