ICD-10, CPT Updates for 2025: What Allergists Need to Know, With Gary Gross, MD

At the 2025 American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting in Orlando, Florida, Gary N. Gross, MD, FACAAI, allergist from the Dallas Allergy & Asthma Center, discussed the latest coding updates and best practices for allergy specialists as they prepare for 2026.

HCPLive sat down with Gross during the meeting to discuss his presentation, “2025 Allergy Coding Update,” on Friday, November 7, 2025. During the interview, he said that the most important thing allergy practices do each year is identifying the new codes, understanding what is relevant, and implementing them correctly.

“If we document everything correctly, then we'll be in the right place and… [provide] the best care for our patients and [get] paid for what we do,” Gross said.

Among the most notable ICD-10 changes for allergists this year are new codes related to food allergies, particularly for patients who have passed baked egg or baked milk challenges. These updates, which took effect in October 2025, allow clinicians to better capture progress in desensitization and personalize long-term treatment plans.

CPT codes for 2025 remain largely consistent with 2024, but Gross noted that new clarifications on medical decision-making and prescription drug management aim to help clinicians properly document the complexity of care delivered.

“Documentation has always been the main necessity that we have in making sure that we get paid for what we do, and now that insurance companies are using AI and…don't necessarily understand our specialty, it's more important to document carefully and clearly and to make things simple and accurate, so that whoever is reviewing the medical records will understand that we've actually done the work that we have said.”

Gross cautioned that errors often stem not from clinicians but from insurers’ differing coding systems. He advised practices to keep a running spreadsheet tracking each payer’s accepted codes and to use modifier 25 correctly when billing for both evaluation and management (E/M) services and procedures on the same day.

Looking ahead, he recommended that allergists start reviewing the 2026 CPT updates now to avoid last-minute confusion. While standard allergy codes remain stable, telehealth coding continues to evolve, requiring ongoing attention.

“CPT codes start in January, and so people should be looking at the new CPT books for the codes that will come into effect in January,” Gross said. “But those codes haven't largely changed, and it's more [about] trying to use the right code and document what you've done to be paid for your visit.”

References

Gross G. 2025 Allergy Coding Update. Presented at ACAAI on November 7, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.