Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) Practice Exam 2025 – Comprehensive All-in-One Guide to Achieve Exam Success!

Z-codes, found in the ICD-10-CM coding system, are designed to capture factors that influence health status and contact with health services. They represent situations that are not classified as illnesses or injuries but provide valuable information about a patient's health and circumstances.

Using Z-codes as primary diagnosis codes is appropriate when they effectively explain the reason for a patient's visit, such as a routine check-up or when a patient is seeking preventive services. In these contexts, Z-codes can clarify the patient's status or reasons for healthcare encounters and are essential for proper healthcare management and resource allocation.

For instance, if a patient is being seen for a screening or a preventive service, a Z-code can indicate this purpose as the primary diagnosis, thus guiding the healthcare billing and reporting process accurately. This is why choice C is correct; it recognizes the role of Z-codes in specific circumstances where they serve as primary identifiers for the services being provided.

The other options do not accurately reflect the use of Z-codes. They are indeed utilized in billing contexts, and they can function both as primary and secondary diagnosis codes depending on the situation, so the implication that they are exclusively secondary or limited is inaccurate.