The American Medical Association (AMA) has released the 2020 Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set, which contains identifiers and descriptors assigned to each medical, surgical and diagnostic service available to patients.
Healthcare providers, insurers and researchers use CPT codes for reporting, measurement, analysis, and benchmarking of medical services and procedures nationwide.
The 2020 code set contains 394 code changes, including 248 new codes, 71 deletions and 75 revisions. The AMA added six new codes to report online appointments, or e-visits, with a healthcare professional (99421, 99422, 99423), or a non-physician health care professional (98970, 98971, 98972).
Other changes include:
- Two new codes (95700-95726) for reporting long-term electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring services for people who might be diagnosed with epilepsy. Four older codes were deleted to make way for 23 new codes that provide better clarity around the services reported by a technologist, a physician, or another qualified health care provider, the association said.
- Two new codes to better support home blood pressure monitoring, including self-measured blood pressure monitoring (99473, 99474).
- Nine new codes and for health and behavior assessment and intervention services (96156, 96158, 96164, 96167, 96170 and add-on codes 96159, 96165, 96168, 96171). These latter codes replace six older codes to more accurately reflect current clinical practice that increasingly emphasizes interdisciplinary care coordination and teamwork with physicians in primary care and specialty settings, the AMA said.
New CPT category I codes are effective for reporting as of Jan. 1, 2020. The CPT editorial panel considered broad input from physicians, medical specialty societies and the greater health care community, according to the physicians’ group.
“An annual editorial process draws insight from the entire health care community to produce practical code enhancements to CPT that support advancements in technology and medical knowledge available for the care of patients,” said AMA president Dr. Patrice A. Harris in a news release. “This capacity ensures reliable codes are available for burgeoning tech-enabled services and affirms CPT as the trusted code set for efficiently sharing accurate information about medical services and procedures. That’s why we believe CPT serves both as the language of medicine today and the code to its future.
“With the advance of new technologies for e-visits and health monitoring, many patients are realizing the best access point for physician care is once again their home,” Harris added. “The new CPT codes will promote the integration of these home-based services that can be a significant part of a digital solution for expanding access to health care, preventing and managing chronic disease, and overcoming geographic and socioeconomic barriers to care.”
The 2020 CPT codes and descriptors can be imported straight into existing claims and billing software using the downloadable CPT 2020 Data File. The file contains the updated code set’s complete descriptor package, including official descriptors for consumers and physicians, and the complete official CPT coding guidelines.
The AMA has scheduled its CPT and RBRVS 2020 annual symposium in Chicago for November 19-22, 2019 to explain the coding changes to healthcare providers. More information is available on its website.
