Social determinants of health (SDoH) coding used to feel optional — a nice-to-have for population health teams. That era is ending. Payers, quality programs, and risk-adjustment models increasingly expect SDoH…
If there's one section of CPT 2026 that justified its own training session, it's peripheral vascular intervention. Effective January 1, 2026, the AMA deleted the lower extremity revascularization (LER) codes…
Most denials aren't caused by exotic coding errors. They're caused by ordinary gaps between what happened in the exam room and what made it into the record. With the 2026…
Exclusion notes are among the most misunderstood conventions in ICD-10-CM — and the April 1, 2026 update quietly changed several of them in ways that affect everyday code assignment. If…
Remote physiologic monitoring has been one of the fastest-growing service lines in outpatient medicine — and one of the most frustrating to bill. Until this year, the CPT structure assumed…
The CPT 2026 code set, effective January 1, 2026, delivered 418 total changes — 288 new codes, 84 deletions, and 46 revisions. That's a lot to absorb, so here's a…
If you code diagnoses for a living, the fiscal year 2026 ICD-10-CM update — effective for discharges and encounters from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026 — is one…
If you've been thinking about a career in medical coding — or leveling up the one you have — there's one credential that comes up in job posting after job…
Ever found yourself Googling "how do I actually start a career in medical billing and coding" and feeling like every answer just leaves you more confused? If so, you're far…
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and its expansion into clinical analysis, decision support, and autonomous clinical actions raises questions about how physicians’ role in clinical medicine will evolve. These…
We all lost an hour of sleep when we “sprang forward” this past weekend. This week is National Sleep Awareness Week for 2026. In its 28th year and instituted by the…
As we approach 2026, students preparing for medical coding certifications like the CPC (Certified Professional Coder from AAPC) and CCA (Certified Coding Associate from AHIMA) face an exciting yet demanding…
H.R. 1 doesn’t directly rewrite ICD-10 or CPT, but it does change the environment in which you’re coding. The impact is mostly indirect – through eligibility, documentation, the social determinants…
Let me start with the two big news items. First, Nina Youngstrom, the editor of the Report on Medicare Compliance, actually got a response from the Centers for Medicare &…
Once again, a well-known consulting organization has mischaracterized the “incident-to” requirements. A few months ago, I wrote about an article that asserted you can’t bill “incident to” when the patient…
Have you ever caught yourself wondering if you should pursue an AAPC or AHIMA certification—and, more importantly, which one is the right fit? I've talked with so many aspiring coders…