CCA (CNCF) case studies
CCA · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Certified Coding Associate (CCA) is AHIMA's entry-level health information credential. It is designed for people who are moving into inpatient or outpatient coding and want a credential that signals baseline competence before they have years of production experience. The CCA case studies are 5 cases and about 3,117 words.
1Sepsis Timing, POA, and Principal Diagnosis on an Inpatient Claim
An 82-year-old is admitted from a skilled nursing facility with fever, confusion, and productive cough. In the emergency department the patient is hypotensive at 88/52 mmHg, lactate is 3.4 mmol/L, and chest X-ray shows a right lower lobe infiltrate.
678 words, about 3 min2Mapping a Legacy Problem List to ICD-10-CM in a New EHR
A 14-provider multispecialty clinic is migrating from a legacy system to a certified EHR. The legacy problem list contains 9,400 entries: 62% free text, 30% coded in SNOMED CT, and 8% in ICD-9-CM.
605 words, about 3 min3Retention and Release When a Clinic Closes
A 12-physician independent practice will close its only clinic in 90 days and uses a cloud-based EHR vendor. State law requires adult records be kept seven years from the last encounter and minors until age 21 or seven years, whichever is longer.
626 words, about 3 min4NCCI Edit and Modifier 25 Denial in an Outpatient Clinic
A multispecialty clinic submits a claim for a 45-year-old established patient: 99214 for evaluation of hypertension and a new shoulder injury, plus same-day arthrocentesis of the right knee (20610) for chronic knee effusion. The claim lists 20610 with M17.11 and 99214 with I10 only.
620 words, about 3 min5Audit Finds Copy-Paste E/M Support and a Productivity Bonus
An internal audit of 30 established-patient E/M claims at a six-provider family medicine group finds 11 claims billed 99214 with review-of-systems and examination text identical to the prior visit, including a full 12-system review and 'no chest pain, no shortness of breath.' The current note's history says 'feeling well.' Three of the 11 were signed by the same physician, who is the group's top RVU producer and receives a productivity bonus. The compliance officer also finds the group's query template includes: 'Would you agree this patient has severe sepsis?' The practice owner calls the audit 'an educational exercise' and wants no repayment.
588 words, about 3 min