CPT Code Updates 2026: What Medical Billers Need to Know
CPT code updates 2026 add new codes for remote monitoring and behavioral health, drop a few old telehealth codes, and add stricter rules for time-based billing. Billers who skip the crosswalk step often see denials pile up in February and March. Every January brings the same problem. A new code book comes out, and someone […]
HIPAA Compliant Medical Billing: A Simple Guide for Practices
A billing clerk once sent a full patient chart instead of just the billing code. That one mistake was a reportable breach. This guide shows what practices must do to avoid it. HIPAA compliant medical billing means protecting patient health information during claims, coding, and payments. Practices need to always have signed vendor agreements, limited […]
Internal Medicine Billing: HCC Coding and Chronic Care Management Explained
A doctor treats a patient’s diabetes all year but never codes it on a single claim, and the practice’s whole risk score drops for that patient. Internal medicine billing runs on more than just visit codes — HCC coding shapes revenue in ways a lot of practices don’t fully track. Internal medicine billing depends heavily […]
Family Medicine Billing: Preventive Visits, CCM, and TCM Codes Explained
A patient comes in for a free yearly wellness visit, and a surprise bill shows up weeks later. Family medicine billing runs into this often, since checkup visits and sick visits happen in the same appointment a lot. Family medicine billing codes cover preventive visits (99381-99397), chronic care management under 99490 and related codes, and […]
Telehealth Billing Guide 2026: Modifiers, POS Codes, and Payer Rules
A doctor does the exact same video visit twice and bills it the same way both times. One claim gets paid. The other one doesn’t. Telehealth rules keep changing, and payers still don’t all follow the same playbook. A telehealth billing guide for 2026 centers on modifier 95 for live video visits, place codes 02 […]
Cardiology Medical Billing: EKG, Echo, & Cath Lab Coding Guide
A clinic bills a routine EKG under one code and still gets a denial back. Cardiology billing depends on getting a small split right, and that one detail causes more lost payments than any other mistake. Cardiology billing splits most tests into parts — EKGs use codes 93000, 93005, and 93010, echo tests use code […]
Behavioral Health Billing Guide: CPT Codes For Therapy And IOP/PHP
A clinic runs a full IOP schedule all week, bills it out, and half the claims land as denials. Behavioral health billing has more moving pieces than standard therapy billing, and clinics that treat it the same way lose revenue fast. Behavioral health billing covers standard therapy codes (90832, 90834, 90837), plus program-level codes for […]
Psychiatry Medical Billing: Codes, Modifiers, and Common Pitfalls
A psychiatrist spends 45 minutes with a patient, bills a 90837, and the claim still comes back denied. Psychiatry billing looks easy on paper, but small details cost clinics real money every month. Psychiatry medical billing runs on E/M codes (99202-99215) paired with therapy add-on codes (90833, 90836, 90838), plus standalone therapy codes (90832, 90834, […]
Prior Authorization Explained: How to Speed Up Approvals
A treatment gets ordered, then it just sits there. Nobody’s denying it outright — the payer just wants to review it first, and that review can eat up days the patient doesn’t have. Prior authorization in healthcare is a payer’s approval requirement before certain services, drugs, or procedures get covered. Approvals speed up when the […]
Prior Authorization Explained: How to Speed Up Approvals
A treatment gets ordered, then it just sits there. Nobody’s denying it outright — the payer just wants to review it first, and that review can eat up days the patient doesn’t have. Prior authorization in healthcare is a payer’s approval requirement before certain services, drugs, or procedures get covered. Approvals speed up when the […]