CPC - Radiology, Pathology and Laboratory, and Medicine (18% of the exam) - Section 2.1

Assign CPT radiology codes, applying the professional, technical, and global component split and the rules for contrast and supervision and interpretation.

Code diagnostic radiology, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology services, and split a service into its professional component (modifier 26) and technical component (modifier TC) versus a global service when one provider performs both. Recognise the with-and-without-contrast rules and the separate supervision and interpretation codes that pair with an interventional procedure.

Radiology sectionProfessional and technical componentModifier 26 and TCSupervision and interpretation

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleRadiology, Pathology and Laboratory, and Medicinemedium

A diagnostic radiology service can be divided into a professional component and a technical component, reported with modifiers 26 and TC. Which description correctly identifies what the professional component of such a service comprises?

AThe imaging equipment, film or digital media, supplies, and the technologist's time for the study
BThe physician's supervision of the study, interpretation of the images, and the signed written report Correct
CThe physician's interpretation together with the room, equipment, and the technologist's time combined
DThe technologist's positioning of the patient and acquisition of the images under a physician's order

The professional component of a diagnostic radiology service is the physician's supervision, interpretation, and signed written report, reported with modifier 26. CPT and HCPCS split a diagnostic imaging service into a technical component (equipment, supplies, and technologist time, modifier TC) and a professional component (the physician's supervision, interpretation, and signed written report, modifier 26). Reporting both together yields the global service.

Why A is wrong: Tempting because these are genuine cost elements of imaging, but equipment, supplies, and technologist time form the technical component (TC), not the professional component.

Why B is correct: Correct, because the professional component is the physician's supervision, interpretation, and signed written report, reported with modifier 26.

Why C is wrong: Tempting because it includes the interpretation, but adding the room, equipment, and technologist time describes the global service, not the professional component alone.

Why D is wrong: Tempting because image acquisition is essential to the study, but acquiring the images is technical work, not the physician's professional component.

See more CPC practice questions, answers explained.

Exam traps in Radiology, Pathology and Laboratory, and Medicine

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.

93005 and 93010 reported separately as two distinct component charges
Why it is wrong: Tempting because component codes exist, but splitting into 93005 plus 93010 is unbundling; when one practice performs both the tracing and the read, the global 93000 is reported instead.
Code 93000, because the global electrocardiogram code always includes the physician interpretation regardless of who owns the equipment.
Why it is wrong: Tempting because the global code does contain the interpretation, but it also pays for the tracing this physician did not perform, so it overstates the service.
It represents the equipment, supplies, and technologist labour rather than the physician's interpretive work.
Why it is wrong: This describes the technical component, not the professional one; it is a tempting swap because both components attach to the same service.

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