A curated set of free, reputable resources for medical billing and coding professionals, students, and practices. We link out to official and well-established sources rather than paywalled content wherever possible.
Official Coding & Regulatory Resources
- CMS.gov — Medicare billing rules, fee schedules, and official coding guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
- CMS Medicare Coding & Billing — Medicare-specific coding and billing resources.
- CDC ICD-10-CM — official ICD-10-CM files and guidelines from the National Center for Health Statistics.
- ICD10Data.com — free, searchable ICD-10-CM/PCS code lookup.
- HHS HIPAA Home — official HIPAA privacy and security rule guidance.
Professional Associations
- AAPC — certification (CPC and others), training, and industry news for medical coders.
- AHIMA — health information management association, certifications, and standards.
- HFMA — Healthcare Financial Management Association, revenue cycle resources.
- MGMA — Medical Group Management Association, practice management benchmarks and resources.
Forms & Templates
- CMS-1500 Claim Form — the standard professional claim form.
- UB-04 / Institutional Billing References — facility claim form guidance via CMS.
Free & Low-Cost Online Courses
Beyond our own training manuals, these platforms offer self-paced medical billing and coding courses you can start today:
- Alison.com — genuinely free diploma and certificate courses in medical billing and coding (a small fee applies only if you want a printed/verified certificate).
- Coursera.org — university- and industry-backed courses (including an AAPC Medical Biller Professional Certificate); most can be audited for free, with a paid option for a certificate.
- Udemy.com — a large library of low-cost, self-paced medical billing and coding courses; frequent sales make these very affordable, though they are not free.
Communities & Ongoing Learning
- AAPC and AHIMA both run active member forums for coding questions and CEU-eligible webinars.
- r/CodingandBilling and r/medicalcoding on Reddit are informal but active communities for day-to-day questions.
- Most Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) publish free regional coding and billing newsletters — worth subscribing to for the payer that covers your state.
Know a great free resource we’re missing? Let us know and we’ll consider adding it.