Kahl AR, et al. - Experts classified the p16-testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) status in upper aerodigestive tract cancers. The most common HPV test was p16 but it was inconsistently coded as HPV-testing. Authors erroneously equated p16-positivity with HPV-type 16. Consistency and accuracy of HPV coding could be improved by adding a separate p16 variable. Original coding captured 81% of patients with HPV-positive cancers while comparing high-level positive/negative/not done categories.