CPC - CPT Surgery and Modifiers (36% of the exam) - Section 1.1

Assign CPT surgery codes from the integumentary (10000) and musculoskeletal (20000) sections, including lesion excision, repair, fracture care, and the global surgical package.

Code integumentary procedures - lesion excision sized by the largest diameter plus margins, wound repair classified as simple, intermediate, or complex, and skin grafts - and musculoskeletal procedures from fracture care to arthroscopy, distinguishing open from closed treatment. Apply the CPT surgical package definition so that routine pre-operative, intra-operative, and normal follow-up care is not unbundled, and select the correct code from head-to-toe anatomic order.

Integumentary 10000 seriesMusculoskeletal 20000 seriesSurgical packageLesion excision sizing

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleCPT Surgery and Modifiershard

CPT describes fracture treatment as closed, open, or percutaneous, and these terms do not depend on the fracture being open or closed to the skin. Which statement correctly distinguishes these treatment methods?

AClosed treatment always means the fracture never broke the skin, while open treatment always means the overlying skin was broken by the original injury.
BPercutaneous treatment means the fracture site is surgically opened so the fragments are directly visualised by the surgeon before any fixation is placed.
COpen treatment and percutaneous skeletal fixation are interchangeable terms because both of them place hardware in order to stabilise the fractured bone.
DClosed treatment leaves the site unopened, open treatment surgically exposes the fracture, and percutaneous skeletal fixation is placed through the skin without opening the site. Correct

CPT fracture terms describe the surgical approach, not skin status: closed unopened, open exposed, percutaneous fixation through the skin. CPT defines closed, open, and percutaneous by how the surgeon reaches the fracture, so the same injury can be treated by any method, and percutaneous skeletal fixation crosses the fracture through the skin under imaging without opening the site.

Why A is wrong: Tempting because the words match wound status, but CPT ties the terms to the surgical approach used, not to whether the injury itself broke the skin.

Why B is wrong: Tempting because fixation hardware is placed, but direct surgical exposure and visualisation defines open treatment, whereas percutaneous fixation is placed through the skin without opening the site.

Why C is wrong: Tempting because both use fixation devices, but the two are distinct: open exposes the fracture directly, while percutaneous fixation is placed through the skin without exposing the site.

Why D is correct: Correct: CPT bases these terms on the approach, so closed keeps the site unopened, open surgically exposes and visualises the fracture, and percutaneous places fixation across the fracture through the skin under imaging.

See more CPC practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in CPT Surgery and Modifiers

Answers that look right on this material and are not. Each one is a distractor from a different question in the CPC bank for this domain.

The greatest clinical diameter of the lesion on its own, taken from the pathology report after the specimen has been fixed.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because pathology confirms the lesion size, but a fixed specimen shrinks and the guideline uses the pre-excision clinical measurement plus margins, not the lesion diameter alone.
CPT 25600, closed treatment of a distal radial fracture, without manipulation
Why it is wrong: The without-manipulation code suits an undisplaced fracture held in position, but here the physician actively reduced a displaced fracture, so manipulation did occur.
Only the delivery itself, with all antepartum and postpartum visits reported separately as evaluation and management codes.
Why it is wrong: This is tempting because delivery is the central event, but the global package deliberately folds the routine prenatal and postpartum visits into the single code.

Examworthy is not affiliated with or endorsed by AAPC. Original, blueprint-aligned practice material only.