For the sake of discussion, I'll offer a differing opinion: having worked (in the US healthcare system in particular) for quite a number of years now, I've found that the most difficult part of solving a problem usually isn't the coding itself, but rather figuring out exactly what it is your client wants. This question is pretty clear compared to some of the client requests I've received in the past (albeit much simpler) - this isn't so much a statement about your interpretation of the question (which I agree with), but rather the challenges you'll encounter when non-technical individuals ask you to help them get technical answers, the problem itself isn't clear in the client's mind, there's a language gap between teams, etc. If every question posed is textbook-clear during training, coders will be ill-served when they finally reach 'real world' problems, which are as much about language and definitions as mathematics. Is the language of this question problematic? Sure. But I'd consider the process of thinking through what exactly the questioner wants a learning experience - one that will make the next unclear question clearer - and then move on to the next challenge.