A patient suffering from psoriasis undergoes laser treatment. The treated
area equals about 400 sq cm. How would this be billed?
Correct answer: 96921
In the index of the CPT book, you would look up dermatology, psoriasis laser
treatment. This gives you the code range 96920-96922, which you will look up in the
Medicine section. When you look up this code range, you will see that all codes are
for a psoriasis laser treatment but differ by the size of the area treated. The question
states that 400 sq cm were treated, and code 96921 matches this. This code would
be the correct answer.
Code 96920 is for a psoriasis laser treatment also, but is for less than 250 sq cm.
Since the question is asking for a larger total area treated, this is not the correct
answer. Code 96922 is for a psoriasis laser treatment as well. The question asks for
less of a total area treated, so this is an incorrect answer. Code 96900 is for
actinotherapy. This is not what the question is asking for, so this is incorrect.
After an EEG is performed on a patient with epilepsy, a physician performs
an epileptic spike analysis on the report. How would the analysis be billed?
Correct answer: 95957
In the index of the CPT book, you would look up electroencephalography, digital
analysis. This gives you the code 95957, which you will look up in the Medicine
section. When you look up this code, you will see that it is for digital analysis of an
EEG. Since this is what the question is asking for, this is the correct answer.
Code 95958 is for a Wada activation test for hemispheric function including EEG
monitoring. This is not what the question is asking for, so this is an incorrect answer.
Code 95965 is for a MEG, recording, and analysis. This is not what the question is
asking for either, so this is an incorrect answer. Code 95955 is for an EEG during
nonintracranial surgery. Again, this is not what the question is asking for, so this is
incorrect as well.
