What the 2026 CPT changes mean for cardiology
The 2026 CPT update touches several diagnostic cardiology codes. If you bill echos or stress tests, here's what changed and what to do about it before your denials tell you the hard way.
The headline change
Several diagnostic cardiology codes saw descriptor and bundling edits in the 2026 update. The practical effect is that some component billing that used to clear will now bundle unless documented and modified correctly.
Echocardiography (93306 family)
The complete-study codes carry tighter documentation expectations for the components performed. If your reads don't document every component, you risk a down-code. Make sure the professional and technical split is explicit.
What to do this quarter
Audit a sample of your diagnostic cardiology claims against the new descriptors. Update your encounter templates so the documentation supports the code. And watch your denial reasons — a spike in a specific reason code is the earliest signal that a payer has adopted the change.