The summer coding errors that quietly cost practices money

Heat illness is filling more emergency rooms than it used to, and the paperwork behind those visits is where practices lose money. During the 2023 warm season, heat-related illness accounted for a larger share of emergency room visits than in the five prior years, according to CDC surveillance published in MMWR, with rates climbing most among men and adults aged 18 to 64. Those visits, and the sunburns, tick bites and fireworks injuries that travel with them, arrive with coding requirements that routine winter respiratory care never demands.