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Forward2026 STS Coding Workshop: Best Practices for Cardiothoracic Surgery
Activity Description
The STS 2026 Coding Workshop: Best Practices for Cardiothoracic Surgery is a two-day virtual event that provides coders, surgeons, and billing professionals with the latest updates to CPT and physician coding and reimbursement. Sessions include live panel discussions, Q&A responding to scenario-based questions submitted by attendees before and during the meeting, and challenging coding examples.
Additionally, participants will have access to supplemental online content to enhance their coding knowledge. This educational event covers coding specific to cardiothoracic surgery, with concentrations in Evaluation and Management (E/M) visits, Adult cardiac surgery, congenital heart surgery, general thoracic surgery (esophagus, mediastinum, pulmonary), and vascular surgery. The program also focuses on physician reimbursement issues affecting the entire specialty.
Click here to register for the Coding Workshop at our main website.
| Pricing | |
| STS Members and Their Employees* | $325 |
| Non-Members and Staff Unaffiliated with an STS Member | $375 |
*An STS Member ID (6 digits) is required to receive the discounted member rate. For help with an STS Member ID, contact Member Services.
Target Audience
Cardiothoracic surgeons, residents, and fellows, cardiothoracic surgery coders, office managers, medical billing specialists, physician assistants, nurses, and anyone else involved in the coding, reimbursement, and compliance efforts for the CT surgery office.
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Identify new CPT codes, updates, and payment policies affecting cardiothoracic surgery coding for 2026.
- Relate the importance of specificity and identification of services provided in a patient encounter.
- Recognize coding and reimbursement criteria in order to identify and capture relevant documentation elements efficiently.
- Explain common coding issues for each cardiothoracic subspecialty and how they should be reported and resolved.
- Summarize the necessary documentation and regulations relevant to critical care and cardiothoracic surgery E/M services, modifiers, and guidelines.
Additional Information
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 AAPC CEU - Attendee Code Card - 2026 STS Coding Workshop | 175.96 KB |
Refer to the STS Education Disclosure Policy. The individuals below have disclosed whether they have financial relationships with ineligible companies in the past 24 months. All relevant financial relationships have been mitigated. Unless otherwise noted, the faculty for this activity have nothing to disclose.
Faculty
Julie Painter, MBA, CCVTC, CPMA
Medical Reimbursement Analysis & Solutions, Inc.
Julia Jonas, CPC, CPMA
Medical Reimbursement Analysis & Solutions, Inc.
V. Seenu Reddy, MD, MBA
TriStar Cardiovascular Group, Nashville, TN
Commercial Relationships: Angiodynamics, Artivion, Atricure: Consultant/Advisory Board
Joseph Rabin, MD, MS
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Prashanth Vallabhajosyula MD, MS
Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT
Commercial Relationships: Terumo Aortic (Consultant); Edwards Lifesciences (Consultant)
Vigneshwar Kasirajan, MD
VCU Health, Richmond, VA
Commercial Relationships: Atricure (Research funding PI for national trial); Carmat SA (Research funding PI for national trial)
Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD
University of Florida, St. Petersburg, FL
Joseph Turek, MD
Duke Children’s Hospital, Durham, NC
Commercial Relationships: Surge Ingenuity, LLC: Equity
James D. St. Louis, MD
Children’s Hospital of Georgia, Augusta, GA
Sunita Srivastava, MD
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Daniel McCarthy, MD, MBA, MEM
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Commercial Relationships: Atricure (Consultant); Cook Medical (Consultant); Elucent (Consultant); Cardiac Valve Innovations (Consultant); Innoblative (Royalties)
J. Matthew Reinersman, MD
University of Oklahoma/OU Health, Oklahoma City, OK
Commercial Relationships: Intuitive Surgical (Surgical Proctor, Educational Speaker)
Brian Mitzman, MD, MS
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Commercial Relationships: Intuitive Surgical (Surgical Proctor, Educational Speaker); Navigation Science (Consultant); Vascular Technology, Inc. (Consultant)
Philip Linden, MD
University Hospitals Cleveland, Cleveland, OH
Francis C. Nichols III, MD
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Aaron M. Cheng, MD
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA
Nicholas Teman, MD
University of Colorado, Aurora, CO
Commercial Relationships: Alexion Pharmaceuticals (Consultant)
Sanjay A. Samy, MD
Albany Medical College, New York, NY
Scott C. Silvestry, MD
University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Commercial Relationships: Abbot: Consultant; Abiomed: Consultant
Stephen Lahey, MD
University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT
Commercial Relationships: Human Resolution Technologies: Consultant/Advisory Board
STS Staff
Scott Bradbury, MS, Vice President of Education
Amy Cacich, CMP, Senior Manager, Meetings and Conventions
Chris Bukowski, Meeting Coordinator
Kasia Chalko, Senior Marketing Manager
Caitlin Golden, Marketing Manager
Meredith A. Herzog, Associate Director of Education
Melisa Puthenmadom, Senior E-Learning Coordinator
Accreditation Statement
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons designates this enduring material for a maximum of 24.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Physician Assistants (PAs) may claim AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ for completing this activity.
Note: Physicians claiming CME do not need to complete the CEU post-tests.
Continuing Education Credits
This program has the prior approval of AAPC for 24.0 continuing education hours. Granting of prior approval in no way constitutes endorsement by AAPC of the program content or the program sponsor.
Available Credit
- 24.00 ABS Accredited CME
- 24.00 ABTS Accredited CME
- 24.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
- 24.00 CEUs