News

On September 1, the American Medical Association released its first major overhaul of CPT codes in 25 years. The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set serves as the coding and guidelines for office and outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) services.

According to the AMA press release, the changes were designed to make E/M office visit coding more flexible. Modifications include:

• Eliminating history and physical exams as elements for code selection
• Permit physicians to make code level selection based on medical-decision-making or total time
• Promoting payer consistency with more detail added to CPT code descriptors and guidelines
• Adapting to new medical testing services needed to address COVID-19

The code changes ranging from 99201-99215 are proposed for adoption by CMS on January 1, 2021.

“To get the full benefit of the burden relief from the E/M office visit changes, health care organizations need to understand and be ready to use the revised CPT codes and guidelines by Jan. 1, 2021,” said AMA President Susan R. Bailey, M.D. “The AMA is helping physicians and health care organizations prepare now for the transition and offers authoritative resources to anticipate the operational, infrastructural and administrative workflow adjustments that will result from the pending transition.”