E/M, Gastro, and Lab Coders, take note.
The American Medical Association (AMA) announced some last-minute corrections to the CPT® code set effective Jan. 1, 2023. Add these to your code book, along with the previously released corrections, to ensure you start the year off right with accurate codes and guidelines.
Evaluation and Management (E/M)
In the E/M guidelines for nursing facility services, note the change from the term immediate to intermediate, which is an important distinction for the nature of the care facility involved:
The following codes are used to report evaluation and management services to patients in nursing facilities and skilled nursing facilities. These codes should also be used to report evaluation and management services provided to a patient in a psychiatric residential treatment center and intermediate care facility for individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Surgery/Digestive System
A note under CPT® code 44705 Preparation of fecal microbiota for instillation, including assessment of donor specimen removes the phrase “or enema.” This correction helps you understand when to turn to 44799 Unlisted procedure, small intestine:
(For fecal instillation by oro-nasogastric tube, use 44799)
Pathology and Laboratory
Add CPT® code 81349 Cytogenomic (genome-wide) analysis for constitutional chromosomal abnormalities; interrogation of genomic regions for copy number and loss-of-heterozygosity variants, low-pass sequencing analysis to a parenthetical note in the Pathology and Laboratory Genomic Sequencing Procedures and Other Molecular Multianalyte Assays subsection:
(For cytogenomic [genome-wide] analysis for constitutional chromosomal abnormalities, see 81228, 81229, 81349, 81405, 81406)
Keep Tabs on Corrections Year-Round
The changes above are all from the Dec. 22, 2022, version of the AMA’s errata document. The AMA may update the document again if it finds other issues, so you should visit the CPT® Errata and Technical Corrections page regularly to check for additional official changes to the codes and guidelines.
For More Information: https://www.aapc.com/blog/86991-ama-releases-more-2023-cpt-errata/