Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Cpt Codes Exist To Facilitate Medical Billing

By Patty Goff


There are so many complicated procedures in the medical field that it makes billing difficult. All the illnesses, procedures and medicines have complicated names. The individual who is qualified to work as a coder will have to be familiar with the Current Procedural Terminology or cpt codes to perform those duties.

There is a panel of experts overseeing the application of them called The CPT Editorial Panel. They perform under the directions of the AMA. The code is nd protected under the auspices of that organization.

This code was created to make clear what was administered to each patient in the communications transmitted from one medical department to another. Separate ones identify diagnoses, surgeries and all other medical processes.

ICD-10 coding identifies the illness or condition a patient is suffering from. Three types of CPT code exist, identified as Category I, Category II and Category III. In Category I you will find six sections. Some examples of Category I are Office or outpatient, Critical care and Home health care services.

They become very specific. One is used for any administration of anesthesia. A separate set of numbers is used to refer to each body part that is operated on. Examples include head, back, extremities, which have separate numbers.

The individual code numbers for surgical procedures include integumentary system, reproductive system and auditory system. The now successful cochlear implant surgery would be classified under auditory system. As you can see, this makes billing run smoothly.

Radiology includes diagnostic ultrasound, radiation oncology and mammography. The mammogram is most often a routine check for breast cancer. It is administered by a nurse and read by a physician.

Another category is pathology and laboratory. Drug testing, a simple urinalysis and various testing of the blood fall under this category. Transfusions are included. The postmortems, also known as autopsies, are classified here.

Routine vaccinations, administration of immunizations and kidney dialysis treatments fall under the numbers for medicine category. When someone has severe kidney disease, the dialysis keeps that person alive until a replacement kidney is matched to their blood type. A kidney transplant will relieve them of the need for dialysis.

This same classifications for medicine include psychiatry, special otorhinolaryngologic services and noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies. The otorhinolaryngologic specialist is also known as an ear, nose and throat man or woman.

Numbers in Category II have four numbers followed by an alphabetical letter to identify them. This classification contains eleven codes. Included are routine physical exams, diagnostic screenings and taking the patients medical history.

Category III codes include those for psychotherapy and other counseling. Some will be retired as of 2014. However psychological testing codes will not be changed. Codes are re-evaluated on an annual basis.

It is true that CPT is a copyright protected registered trademark belonging to the American Medical Association. However, its use is not limited to that organization. It is used by other health care organizations. Some examples are the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and the Federal Register. Each pays a licensing fee to entitle them to utilize the code.




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