The statement is true. Regardless of how a sternal closure is performed, it would be considered integral to this, and any other open cardiac procedure, when a sternal approach is used as the method of exposure. If a sternal closure were performed as the only procedure to repair an injury, the closure would then be reported.

The statement is false. When a patient is in the healing and/or recovery phase of an injury, the seventh character would be D to indicate that the care is subsequent-whether the provider has treated the patient in the past or not.

Medical nutrition therapy describes nutritional assessments and interventions in a face-to- face or group patient setting and is reported with CPT codes 97802-97804. These codes are used by nonphysician healthcare professionals only. When a physician provides nutritional advice, a preventative service or evaluation and management code should be reported.

When deciding between a routine extracapsular cataract removal and a complex extracapsular cataract removal, bear in mind the code descriptor for a complex procedure involves
"devices or techniques not generally used in a routine cataract surgery (e.g., iris expansion device)." Because iris hooks were used, the procedure is complex (CPT 66982). When it comes to the diagnosis, do not get confused with the anatomy of the eye. Although the cornea works with the lens to help refract light, they are anatomically separate, thus eliminating answer B as an acceptable choice. A congenital condition is one that is genetic and/or present from birth. The documentation does not specifiy the origin, nor does it indicate when the lens abnormality began. Symptoms of a cataract include clouded and discolored lenses but should not be reported unless the physician clearly identifies this as the diagnosis. Coding crosswalk for diseases of the lens leads a coder to H27.8 (other specified disorders of lens).

The primary diagnosis on an inpatient record would be the primary reason the patient was admitted. In this case, because a definitive diagnosis could not be confirmed, the symptom of chest pain would be selected instead. The previously confirmed chronic conditions would also be coded because they affect the management of inpatient care. Diabetes would be coded to an unspecified code because the term "with" implies a causal relationship between the conditions that is not implicitly documented. Per ICD-IO-CM guidelines, a rule-out code is not assigned when "any signs or symptoms related to the suspected condition are present."