CPT Codes for Medical Billing

Current Procedure Terminology, otherwise known as CPT Codes are used to describe health care services in the electronic transactions selected by HIPPA. Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) was developed by the American Medical Association and is the standard code set for Medicare and Medicaid. CPT codes facilitate data collection purposes to gain FDA approval.

There are three categories of CPT codes:

Category One- contemporary medical practice . They describe a procedure or service identified with a five digit code and descriptor nomenclature.

Category Two - to facilitate data collection for performance or for new services or technologies not yet common, by coding a certain service or test result that contributes to positive health outcomes and quality patient care. The use of these tracking codes for performance measure will lower the need for record abstraction and chart reviews. Minimizing administrative burdens on doctors and physicians and help to survey the costs for health plans.

Category Three- assigned an alphanumeric identifier with a letter in the last field. Category three codes are located following the Medicine section. This category is well informed of new and emerging technologies and procedures. On approval by the Editorial Panel, these codes will be made available twice a year.