This document provides guidance to cardiovascular specialists in the areas of ethical and appropriate coding and billing for services they provide. These statements emphasize the ethical obligation of cardiologists to place the patient's interest first, to maintain high moral standards in all aspects of medical practice and to seek only appropriate compensation from patients and insurers. The most important ethical principles relevant to this report are justice and veracity. Justice in this context is defined as receiving that to which one is entitled.
Veracity is truth-telling.
Physicians are obligated to report truthfully to insurers, by accurate coding of services, what services were provided. Most references to ethical practices in this report are derived from the principles of justice and veracity. The importance of coding for services and procedures has evolved and increased rapidly in recent years. Ten years ago, coding was seen as a method to classify the services and procedures that physicians provided to their patients.