American Medical Association has released the 2021 E/M CPT code set which includes major changes in 2021 Current Procedural Terminology (CPT). This will simplify coding and documentation of office visits and other outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) services.
The AMA described the changes to the CPT codes as the “first major overhaul in more than 25 years to the codes and guidelines for office and other outpatient evaluation and management (E/M) services.”
Already their has been a list of New CPT codes released every month for the COVID-19 Test and exams. This year may updates have happened both for diagnosis ICD 10 and CPT codes due to the Pandemic.
The code set released earlier today modified E/M office visit codes 99201 through 99215 to eliminate history and physical exam as elements for code selection and enable physicians to select the code levels based on medical decision-making or total time.
The E/M office visit modifications include:
- Eliminating history and physical exam as elements for code selection.
- Allowing physicians to choose the best patient care by permitting code level selection based on medical decision-making (MDM) or total time.
- Promoting payer consistency with more detail added to CPT code descriptors and guidelines.
“To get the full benefit of the burden relief from the E/M office visit changes, health care organizations need to understand and be ready to use the revised CPT codes and guidelines by Jan. 1, 2021,” said AMA President Susan R. Bailey, M.D. “The AMA is helping physicians and health care organizations prepare now for the transition and offers authoritative resources to anticipate the operational, infrastructural and administrative workflow adjustments that will result from the pending transition.”
The revised E/M office visit codes are among 329 editorial changes in the 2021 CPT code set, including 206 new codes, 54 deletions, 69 revisions. The CPT code set continues to see growth in new and novel areas of medicine, with the majority (63%) of new codes this year involving new technology services described in Category III CPT codes and the continued expansion of the Proprietary Laboratory Analyses (PLA) section of the CPT code set.
References:
https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-releases-2021-cpt-code-set
https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/2021-cpt-code-set-simplifies-e-m-coding-adds-covid-19-