CT used only to localize a PET study

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 diagnostic or treatment service; stated component and Medicare relationship

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

Study purpose

Fictional adult undergoes an ordered PET/CT examination. The technical protocol explicitly states that the CT component is used for attenuation correction and anatomical localization of the PET findings. No independent diagnostic CT examination is ordered or performed in this case.

Acquisition and report

The combined examination is completed as documented. The report identifies the CT’s limited purpose within the integrated study. It does not establish another diagnostic acquisition or a separate diagnostic CT report meeting a distinct examination’s requirements.

Reporting scope

This exercise addresses only the localization component. It does not ask the learner to resolve the more complex reporting combinations for a separately necessary diagnostic CT acquired at the same encounter. Those require additional technical facts and current authoritative instructions.

Claim proposal

A draft adds a full diagnostic CT because the machine produced CT images. Review the stated purpose and the integrated study’s full entry. Equipment capability alone does not establish that every possible diagnostic service was furnished.

Your coding worksheet

Identify the CT component’s documented purpose.
Determine whether a separate diagnostic CT occurred.
Evaluate the additional diagnostic CT line.
State the limits of the case.

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

The CT serves attenuation correction and localization for PET.
No independent diagnostic CT study is supplied.
NCCI E.14 does not support adding a diagnostic CT solely for that localization component.
The case avoids disputed or more complex diagnostic-combination circumstances; do not invent a separate acquisition.

Reference sections: E.14

Practice the linked chart questions