In the United States, chronic diseases and the health risk behaviors that cause them account for most health care costs. Eighty-six percent of all health care spending in 2010 was for people with one or more chronic medical conditions.

Chronic disease has a significant impact on the how health care dollars are spent in the United States which in turn affects revenue and reimbursement.  The more that you understand the nature of the different chronic diseases, the better you will be able to code.  An understanding of the chronic disease processes documented in a medical record will better allow you to code.

Diabetes is just one example of a chronic disease that has long ranging and an expensive impact.  Check out some of the data associated with Diabetes so that you can get an idea of just how many patients have diabetes, and this is just Oregon.