Gray Areas in Coding & Auditing: What to Do When There’s No Black and White Answer

Coding and auditing professionals, along with providers, often face situations where CPT guidance does not fully address real-world clinical scenarios. These gray areas can create uncertainty, leading to inconsistent code selection, compliance risk, and audit exposure. This webinar offers a structured approach to resolving ambiguity by applying a hierarchy of coding authority, leveraging official resources, and developing internal policies that support defensible decisions. We’ll discuss strategies for collaborating with providers to clarify documentation, review best practices for handling unlisted codes, and explore methods for selecting comparable codes when guidance is limited. Attendees will gain practical tools to standardize processes, reduce variability, and strengthen compliance across their organization, whether you’re documenting, coding, or auditing.

Learning Objectives:

· Apply a hierarchy of authority to resolve CPT coding ambiguity and conflicts.

· Identify and use official resources such as CPT Assistant, CMS manuals, and NCCI edits to support coding decisions.

· Develop internal policies for recurring gray areas to ensure consistency and compliance.

· Engage providers effectively to clarify documentation and support accurate coding.

· Implement best practices for using unlisted codes and selecting comparable codes for reimbursement.

Join Antonia Dietrich and earn one CEU with our live one-hour Webinar!

Start time: 12:00 pm CST on September 23, 2026