NCCQ THEORY ICD10 EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

NCCQ THEORY ICD10
EXAM QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS



Whatisclinicalcoding?-
Correctanswer~Clinicalcodingisthetranslationofmedicalterminologythatdescribesapatient'sc
omplaint,problem,diagnosis,treatmentorotherreasonforseekingmedicalattentionintocodesth
atcanthenbeeasilytabulated,aggregatedandsortedforstatisticalanalysisinanefficientandmeani
ngfulmanner.



Whatiscodinguniformityandwhyisitimportant?-
Correctanswer~Uniformitymeansthatwheneveragivenconditionorreasonforanepisodeiscode
d,thesamecodeisalwaysusedtorepresentthatconditionorreasonfortheencounter.Uniformityis
essentialiftheinformationistobeusefulandcomparable



Whatarethethreedimensionsofcodingaccuracy?-Correctanswer~Individualcodes

Totalityofcodes

Sequencingofcodes



WhatismeantbyIndividualcodes?-
Correctanswer~Eachclinicalstatementofdiagnosismusthavethecorrectcodeassignment.Anindi
vidualpatientmayhavemanydiagnoses(orprocedures).Consequentlyacodedrecordforanepisod
ewillhaveatleastoneorpotentiallymanyindividualcodes.

,Whatismeantbytotalityofcodesandwhyisthisimportant?-
Correctanswer~Theconceptoftotalityofcodesiscomplex.Itmeansthatallcodesnecessarytogivea
naccurateclinicalpictureofthepatient'sdiagnosis,problemsorotherreasonsforanepisodeencou
nter,mustbeassignedinaccordancewiththerules,conventionsandstandardsoftheclassification.T
hisisimportantasitispossibleforalistofcodestodescribeanepisodeincorrectlyintermsofclinicalco
dingrulesandstandardseventhoughtheindividualcodesselectedarecorrect.



Whatismeantbysequencingofcodes,whyisthisimportantandwhatisasignificantaspectofthis?-
Correctanswer~Codesmustbesequencedinaccordancewithclinicalcodingstandardstoprovidec
onsistentdataforstatisticalanalysis.Asignificantaspectofsequencingistheselectionofthemainco
nditiontreated



Howmanystepsmakeupthecodingprocess?-Correctanswer~Four



Whatissteponeofthefourstepcodingprocess?-Correctanswer~StepOne

Analysemedicalterminologytodetermineleadterm(s)andmodifier(s)



Whatissteptwoofthefourstepcodingprocess?-Correctanswer~StepTwo

Locatetheleadterm(s)intheAlphabeticalIndex(ICD-10Volume3)



Whatisstepthreeofthefourstepcodingprocess?-Correctanswer~StepThree

Assignatentativecode(s)usingtheAlphabeticalIndexandtakingintoaccountallrules,conventions
andstandards.



Whatisstepfourofthefourstepcodingprocess?-Correctanswer~StepFour

Verifythecode(s)usingtheTabularList(ICD-
10Volume1)andtakingintoaccountinstructionalnotes.

, Ifthereisadoubtastowhereaconditionshouldbecoded,whatchaptersmusttakepriority?-
Correctanswer~The'specialgroup'chaptersmusttakepriority.



HowmanychaptersmakeupICD-10?-Correctanswer~22chapters



NamethetypesofchapterswithinICD-
10,describebrieflytheircontentandgivethechapternumbersthatfallwithineachtype.-
Correctanswer~Specialgroupchapters

ChaptersI-V,XV-
XVIIandXIXclassifyconditionsthatdonotfocusonanyonebodysystem.Ingeneral,conditionsarepri
marilyclassifiedtooneofthe'specialgroup'chapters.

Bodysystemchapters

ChaptersVI-XIVclassifyconditionsaccordingtothebodysystemtheyaffect.

Otherchapters

ChaptersXVIIIandXX-
XXIIclassifyotherdisordersandfactorswhichdonotsitcomfortablyineitheraspecialgrouporbodys
ystemchapter



Whatcharacterlevelsmustcodeassignmentbemadeto,withinICD-10,tomakethecodevalid?-
Correctanswer~Codeassignmentmustalwaysbemadetofourcharacterlevelorfivecharacterlevel
(whereavailableandinlinewithfifthcharactercodingstandards),forthecodetobevalid



Describewhatmustbedonewhenathreecharactercodedoesnothavefourthcharactersubdivision
sandwhythisis.-
Correctanswer~Whereathreecharactercategorycodeisnotsubdividedintofourcharactersubdivi
sionsthe'X'fillermustbeassignedinthefourthcharacterfieldsothecodesareofastandardlengthfor
dataprocessingandvalidation.Thecodeisstillconsideredathreecharactercodefromaclassificatio
nperspective.

Whereathreecharactercoderequiresassignmentofboththe'X'fillerandafifthcharactersubdivisio
n,the'X'fillermustcontinuetoberecordedinthefourthfieldbeforethefifthcharacter.