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| Section | Weight | Objectives |
|---|---|---|
| Topic 1: Medical record documentation | 19.17% | - Documentation clarification and compliant physician queries - Documentation requirements and diagnosis or procedure code assignment |
| 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: Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting | 14.17% | - Principal and secondary diagnosis assignment - Coding guidelines, AHA Coding Clinic, HACs, and POA indicators |
| Topic 4: Anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and medical terminology | 19.17% | - Clinical conditions and clinical indicators - Anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, and terminology |
| Topic 5: Communication skills | 9.17% | - CDI and coding roles and interdisciplinary collaboration - Physician education and effective communication |
| Topic 6: Professionalism, ethics, and compliance | 9.17% | - Confidentiality, DRG compliance, and ethical CDI practices - Query compliance, DRG creep, and audit risks |
| Topic 7: Healthcare facility CDI program analysis | 8.33% | - Data analysis, forecasting, and performance measurement - CDI productivity, provider response, CMI, and program metrics |
| Topic 8: 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 |
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NEW QUESTION # 53
An MS-DRG family is divided into three severity levels: with MCC, with CC, and without CC/MCC.
Assuming all other grouper conditions are identical, which secondary diagnosis category generally results in the highest severity-level assignment?
Answer: C
Explanation:
An MCC-major complication or comorbidity-represents the highest secondary-diagnosis severity category within the standard three-tier MS-DRG hierarchy. CMS describes MCCs as diagnoses with the highest level of severity affecting hospital resource use, CCs as conditions with a moderate level, and non-CC diagnoses as the lowest severity level.
When an MS-DRG family is divided into "with MCC," "with CC," and "without CC/MCC," the presence of a qualifying MCC generally moves the case into the highest severity subdivision, assuming no exclusion or other grouper rule prevents that effect.
This does not mean every MCC always increases payment. Some secondary diagnoses are excluded as MCCs or CCs in particular circumstances because of principal-diagnosis exclusions or DRG-specific logic. CMS's FY 2026 Definitions Manual specifically contains exclusion lists and severity logic for such situations.
CDI specialists should understand MCC/CC logic to interpret working DRGs, but query activity must be driven by clinical accuracy rather than the financial value of a severity level.
CCDS Reference Topics: MS-DRGs; MCC; CC; severity subdivisions; resource utilization; reimbursement compliance.
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NEW QUESTION # 54
A CDI manager notes that the physician query response rate is 98%, but only 55% of queries are answered before discharge. Which metric should receive the MOST immediate workflow analysis?
Answer: B
Explanation:
The overall response rate is excellent at 98%, but the fact that only 55% of queries are resolved before discharge indicates a meaningful concurrent-workflow issue.
Concurrent CDI is most effective when clarification occurs while the patient remains hospitalized and the physician has immediate access to the clinical context. Delayed responses can contribute to retrospective work, final-bill holds, coding delays, and administrative escalation.
The CDI manager should determine whether delays cluster by provider, specialty, query type, unit, day of week, discharge timing, or electronic-query process. Other factors may include insufficient notification, physician workflow, poor escalation protocols, or queries being issued too late in the stay.
CMI and MCC volume do not directly measure response timeliness and should not substitute for analysis of the actual operational problem.
Importantly, programs should not pressure physicians into rapid but clinically superficial responses. Query timing initiatives must preserve thoughtful provider judgment and compliant communication.
ACDIS identifies medical-record review, communication, query technique, and data-mining/reporting functions among core CCDS competencies.
CCDS Reference Topics: Query timeliness; concurrent CDI; physician engagement; workflow analysis; program metrics.
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NEW QUESTION # 55
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 # 56
A patient with severe cachexia and substantial loss of appetite requires pharmacologic treatment to stimulate appetite. Which of the following medications is most commonly associated with this indication?
Answer: D
Explanation:
Megestrol acetate is the correct choice. This item is adapted from an official ACDIS CCDS sample question in the Candidate Handbook, where Megace-megestrol acetate-is identified as the appropriate appetite- stimulating medication.
Megestrol acetate is a synthetic progestational agent with recognized appetite-stimulating effects. Current U.
S. prescribing information specifically identifies megestrol acetate oral suspension for anorexia, cachexia, or significant unexplained weight loss in patients with AIDS. Its use illustrates why CDI specialists need functional knowledge of pharmacology: medication profiles can provide clinically relevant clues to diagnoses under evaluation, although a medication alone never establishes a reportable diagnosis.
Memantine is primarily used in Alzheimer's disease and is not an appetite stimulant. Levothyroxine replaces thyroid hormone in hypothyroidism. Sibutramine was historically used for weight reduction rather than cachexia and is therefore directionally opposite to the desired effect.
In CDI review, identification of megestrol may prompt assessment of the record for malnutrition, cachexia, malignancy-related weight loss, HIV-associated wasting, or another underlying cause, but the provider must document the diagnosis.
CCDS Reference Topics: Pharmacology; cachexia; nutrition disorders; clinical indicators.
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NEW QUESTION # 57
A patient develops chest pain and elevated troponins while receiving care in the emergency department. The physician diagnoses an NSTEMI. Several hours later, an inpatient admission order is written. How should the NSTEMI generally be considered for POA purposes?
Answer: D
Explanation:
For POA reporting, "present on admission" refers to a condition present at the time the order for inpatient admission occurs. Conditions that develop during an outpatient encounter-including emergency-department, observation, or outpatient surgery care-before the inpatient admission order are generally considered POA when they are present at that inpatient admission point.
Therefore, the NSTEMI in this scenario is considered present on admission even though it developed after the patient physically arrived at the hospital.
This distinction is essential because hospital arrival and inpatient admission are not synonymous for POA purposes. A patient may spend hours in the ED or observation status before an inpatient order is entered.
The POA indicator applies to applicable principal and secondary diagnoses and is important to CMS's HAC payment provisions as well as quality analysis. A condition does not become hospital acquired merely because it arose somewhere on hospital premises before inpatient status began.
CDI specialists should clarify timing when the record does not establish whether a diagnosis existed before or after the inpatient admission order rather than relying solely on note timestamps or physical location.
The FY 2026 ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines contain the governing POA definitions and reporting rules.
CCDS Reference Topics: POA; emergency department; observation; timing of diagnosis; HAC payment logic.
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NEW QUESTION # 58
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