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The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has estimated that hospitals' use of AI-assisted medical coding contributed around $942 million in additional costs to its health plans between 2023 and 2025.
The analysis found a sharp rise in patients being documented with complex conditions without evidence of a corresponding change in the care delivered. Roughly $653 million, about 70 per cent of the billing identified, was tied to additional diagnoses unaccompanied by any change in treatment, Luke Chalker, BCBSA's senior vice president of product and data science, told CNBC. He stopped short of attributing the whole increase to AI.
The association notes that the growth in what it calls complex coding came during a period in which 60 per cent of hospital systems began using AI coding tools. Much of the increase came from secondary conditions, those arising from an illness separate to the one being treated.
5 reports filed for Sunday 11 October 2026, compiled from company statements, registry filings and StartupFox reporting. Figures marked reported were not confirmed by the companies named.
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