Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions? Here are the most common things people ask about KayMedCoding - from shop products and study tools to how to use your materials. For questions not covered here, scroll down to “Still have questions?” to reach out directly.

  • I use erasable gel pens purchased on amazon for making notes. Making mistakes when writing is expected, and having erasable pens take the pressure off of making those mistakes in expensive books.


    Here are the Amazon links to the pens and highlighters I use for my books:

    Heads up! Pilot® Erasable Gel Pens use heat-sensitive ink. Exposure to heat or friction—including erasing on one side of the page—may cause ink on the reverse side to disappear.

  • I only use a color-coding system for CPT right now! CPT is procedural and tends to benefit more from visual breakdowns. For ICD-10-CM, I focus more on understanding guidelines and structure rather than assigning colors, but everyone’s brain works differently!

  • Yes, handwritten notes are 100% allowed in your books!

    You may write coding examples and other relevant information, so long as it pertain to daily (coding/billing/auditing) activities.

    Questions directly from AAPC/AMBA/AHIMA study guides, practice exams or the exam itself is prohibited.

    You may insert tabs in the manuals. You are not allowed to put post-it notes within the books.

    Altering, whiting out, painting, or printing over pages within the codes books are prohibited.

    Before you begin your exam, your exam proctor will have you fan out your pages to ensure there are no loose papers or post-it notes.

    Recently, they’ve started to allow digital coding books to be used during exams. In this case, you will not be able to add in any handwritten notes.

    Always check with your organization on their specific testing rules.

  • After you purchase a digital file, you will immediately receive a confirmation of purchase along with a link to download your file or folder.

    Customers receive a secure link via email to the file lasting 24 hours after the first download.

    If for any reason you lose your link, you can automatically request a new link.

    *FOR ICD-10 BUNDLE:

    *FOR CPT BUNDLE: Unfortunately the file size is too large to be uploaded via this website. Once you purchase the bundle, you will receive a link for your download via email. The download will contain ONE .txt file that has a link to a Google Drive file that contains ALL of the files.

  • In most cases, yes — last year’s notes can still be helpful for understanding CPT concepts and structure. However, CPT codes and guidelines are updated annually, so I always recommend reviewing the current year’s book for any code changes, deletions, or guideline updates.

  • Yes, AHIMA (American Health Information Management Association) requires the use of American Medical Association (AMA) CPT® code books for their certification exams.

    While AHIMA publishes its own "AHIMA ICD-10-CM/PCS Code Book," they also officially allow and recognize other publishers for their exams, including AMA’s "ICD-10-CM: The Complete Official Codebook," as well as Optum360, AAPC, and others.

  • Yes! My notes can be used with Optum CPT books, although numbers and formatting may differ slightly from other publishers. The overall CPT code structure, guidelines, and terminology are standardized.

  • Absolutely! Writing notes in your coding books can be a game-changer. Adding key reminders, code pairings, modifier usage, or guideline summaries helps reinforce important concepts and makes it easier to find information quickly.

    Remember, its about how well you can navigate your book. Just be sure to follow any exam guidelines if you're planning to take a certification exam/test!

  • Yes - but I do not recommend taking your pages out of your books if you plan on taking an exam.

    I take my spiral out of my books in order to write my notes, scan them, and make them available for other to use. If you are planning to take any kind of exam, this is strictly prohibited!

  • Unfortunately, I don’t have a listing or any notes for Chapter 3 in ICD-10 since there aren’t any guidelines, anatomy or common pathologies for that chapter. I have all the rest though!

Still have questions? Feel free to reach out!