Validity measurements for a drug specimen

Read an original fictional chart, identify the supported facts, and explain your coding workflow.

Chart gym · Original fictional record

Service date: 2026-09-09 · Outpatient laboratory; Medicare reporting relationship

Use your code books and write your reasoning before opening the walkthrough. This exercise contains no real patient information.

Testing order

Fictional adult provides urine for an ordered drug-testing procedure. The laboratory performs the documented drug assay. This exercise does not decide the exact presumptive or definitive entry, drug-class count or payer coverage frequency.

Validity workflow

The same specimen is checked for pH and creatinine solely to assess possible adulteration. The laboratory record labels both measurements specimen-validity checks. Neither is ordered to evaluate an independent renal, metabolic or other clinical condition.

Results record

The drug report contains the assay results and a separate validity section. Numerical pH and creatinine values appear in that section. Their presence does not alter the documented reason for measuring them.

Claim proposal

The draft adds routine diagnostic pH and creatinine test lines based on the numerical results. Review the purpose of the measurements and NCCI’s drug-testing validity instruction before accepting those additional lines.

Your coding worksheet

Identify the purpose of the pH and creatinine measurements.
Determine whether independent diagnostic assays are documented.
Evaluate separate billing of validity checks.
Avoid inferring the drug-testing entry from this focused record.

In your notebook, record the supported facts, your index route, the instructions you checked, and any missing detail that limits your answer.

Compare with the worked explanation

Both measurements check specimen validity.
No separate diagnostic purpose or order is provided.
NCCI E.2 prohibits separately billing the stated validity work.
The actual drug procedure still needs its own method, class and coverage review.

Reference sections: E.2

Practice the linked chart questions