The 2021 Medicare physician payment schedule finalized an AMA-developed approach for less burdensome coding and documenting of office and outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) services. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) also extended Medicare payment for many services delivered via telehealth at least until the end of calendar year 2021, but indicated that […]
CPT® 2021 includes 206 new codes, 69 revised codes, and 54 deleted codes. All sections of CPT® received changes in codes and guidelines, except Anesthesia. The most significant changes are to codes for office/other outpatient evaluation and management (E/M), prolonged services, breast repair and reconstruction, cardiovascular shunting procedures, and COVID-19 testing. Here is an overview […]
Some third-party payers have reimbursed and will continue to reimburse providers for this new CPT code; others won’t. The American Medical Association (AMA) published a new CPT® code on Sept. 8 that accounts for extra provisions to ensure patient and provider safety during a public health emergency (PHE). The code is effective immediately: CPT 99072 – Additional supplies, materials, and clinical staff time over and above […]
Federal approval of the Pfizer vaccine, believed to be better than 90 percent effective, could occur before the end of the month. When the long-awaited and much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the U.S., a development that could take place before the end of the year, a set of new Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes […]
The AMA is warning the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that rate-cutting provisions in its proposed 2021 Medicare physician payment schedule pose “a very real threat to the ability of many physicians to deliver health care services to their patients.” CMS has proposed new office-visit policies that should result in a significant […]
The American Medical Association (AMA) has released an update to the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) code set today, introducing two new codes to report medical services related to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The revision to the CPT code set has been sanctioned by the CPT Editorial Panel, an autonomous body assembled by the […]
One of the codes, CPT Code 99072, is for reporting additional supplies used to mitigate spread of the virus. The American Medical Association (AMA) announced, Sept. 8, two new Category I CPT® codes to meet the changing needs of the healthcare industry brought about by the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). The codes were approved […]