Medical Coding Jeopardy

ICD-10-CM, CPT, HCPCS, modifiers, and coding guidelines in one review game. Coding students can copy this board free and buzz in from their phones.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

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ICD-10-CM Structure

$200
ICD-10-CM codes run from 3 up to this many characters.
What is 7?
$400
In ICD-10-CM codes, this punctuation mark comes after the third character.
What is a decimal point?
$600
This letter serves as a placeholder to fill empty positions when a code needs a 7th character.
What is X?
$800
Codes in the ICD-10-CM chapter on injury and poisoning begin with these two letters.
What are S and T?
$1,000
In many injury codes, the 7th character A indicates this type of encounter.
What is an initial encounter?

CPT Basics

$200
In CPT, the T stands for this word.
What is Terminology?
$400
CPT Category I codes are made up of this many digits.
What is five?
$600
Codes 70010 through 79999 make up this CPT section.
What is Radiology?
$800
Codes 10004 through 69990 make up this, the largest CPT section.
What is Surgery?
$1,000
Category III CPT codes, for emerging technology, end in this letter.
What is T?

HCPCS Level II

$200
HCPCS is commonly pronounced as this rhyming nickname.
What is hick-picks?
$400
A HCPCS Level II code is one letter followed by this many digits.
What is four?
$600
HCPCS codes beginning with E report this type of equipment, such as wheelchairs.
What is durable medical equipment?
$800
HCPCS Level II codes beginning with this letter mainly report drugs administered other than by mouth, such as injections.
What is J?
$1,000
This federal agency maintains the HCPCS Level II code set.
What is CMS?

Modifiers

$200
Modifiers LT and RT identify this for a procedure.
What is the side of the body?
$400
Modifier 50 identifies this kind of procedure, performed on both sides.
What is bilateral?
$600
Modifier 26 reports only this component of a service, such as a radiologist's interpretation.
What is the professional component?
$800
Modifier 59 marks a service as this, separate from another it would normally be bundled with on the same day.
What is a distinct procedural service?
$1,000
Modifier 25 flags a significant, separately identifiable service of this type on the same day as a procedure.
What is an E/M service?

Coding Guidelines

$200
Coders should never assign a code straight from this part of ICD-10-CM without checking the Tabular List.
What is the Alphabetic Index?
$400
In outpatient coding, uncertain diagnoses like probable or rule out aren't coded; these are coded instead.
What are signs and symptoms?
$600
For inpatients, the condition chiefly responsible for the admission after study is called this.
What is the principal diagnosis?
$800
In ICD-10-CM, the abbreviation NEC stands for this.
What is not elsewhere classifiable?
$1,000
An Excludes1 note means the two conditions should be treated this way.
What is never coded together?

Compliance and Ethics

$200
Billing for a higher-level service than was actually performed is known as this.
What is upcoding?
$400
Billing separately for parts of a service that should be reported with one comprehensive code is called this.
What is unbundling?
$600
This federal law lets whistleblowers sue on the government's behalf over fraudulent claims.
What is the False Claims Act?
$800
This federal law makes it a crime to pay or receive anything of value for referrals of federal health program business.
What is the Anti-Kickback Statute?
$1,000
The Stark Law restricts this kind of referral, by physicians to entities in which they have a financial interest.
What is self-referral?

Final Jeopardy — Code Sets

The CPT code set, used to report medical procedures and services, is maintained and copyrighted by this professional organization.

What is the American Medical Association?

How to run this board

This board covers the foundations of medical coding: the structure of ICD-10-CM diagnosis codes, CPT procedure codes, HCPCS Level II, modifiers, official coding guidelines, and the compliance rules that keep coding honest.

It is a study aid for students in a coding program or preparing for certification, not a substitute for the course or the current official code books. Code sets are updated every year, so clues focus on structure, principles, and long-standing modifiers rather than individual codes that may change.

Let teams keep their code books open for the guidelines column. Real coders look things up, and a timed open-book round rewards knowing where to find an answer.

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