Current Procedural Terminology

 

The Full form of CPT is Current Procedural Terminology. CPT is a medical code set by the American Medical Association that is used to report medical, surgical, and diagnostic procedures and services to entities such as physicians, health insurance companies and accreditation organizations. CPT codes are used in conjunction with ICD-9-CM or ICD-10-CM numerical diagnostic coding during the electronic medical billing process. There are three types of CPT codes: Category 1, Category 2 and Category 3. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association. The Category 1 codes are broken down into six sections: evaluation and management, anesthesiology, radiology, surgery, pathology and laboratory, and medicine. The Category 2 CPT medical code set consists of the supplementary tracking codes that are used for performance measures and are intended to help collect information about the quality of care delivered. The use of this medical code set is optional and is not a substitute for Category 1 codes. The Category 3 CPT code list consists of temporary codes that cover emerging technologies, procedures and services. They differ from the Category 1 medical CPT codes list in that they identify services that may not be widely performed by healthcare professionals, may not have FDA approval and also may not have proven clinical efficacy.