By Patty Goff


Medical billing is a complicated position that requires training. There are a myriad of procedures, medications and illnesses with difficult to spell names. A coder must know the Current Procedural Terminology, known as the cpt codes to function in that position.

There is a panel of experts who oversee maintenance of the medical code under the direction of the American Medical Association. It is called the CPT Editorial Panel. It is copyright protected by the AMA.

The code facilitates clarity in communication from one medical department to another. It covers descriptions of diagnostic, surgical and medical care for coders. It identifies what service a patient is being billed for.

The ICD-10 coding system is used to specify what a patient is being treated for. The three types of CPT codes are used to differentiate among all the procedures, care services and surgeries. There are three separate categories, each having separate sections to cover various similar services. Some examples place in Category I are outpatient, Nursing Home and Home Health Care Nursing.

They are item specific. One category applies to the administration of anesthesia. Each body part that is being operated on uses a separate code. Some examples include the extremities, the head and the eyes.

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.

There are those for radiology, which include treatments of radiation oncology, mammograms and ultrasound tests. Pregnant women can be reassured that the baby is healthy. It is often possible to identify if the baby is a boy or girl.

Pathology and laboratory are another category. Included are drug tests, evocative suppression testing and the simple urinalysis administered as part of any routine exam in the physicians office. Complicated testing includes hematology and coagulation, transfusion medicine and the postmortem anatomic pathology.

Under those identifying Medicine you will find vaccines, any immunization administration and kidney dialysis. The individual with advanced kidney disease will have to undergo dialysis on a regular basis to remain alive. Many of these patients are waiting for a kidney transplant.

Specialists also fall under the class of those used for medicine. Some specialties include otorhinolaryngology, psychiatry and cardiology. The cardiologist is known as the heart doctor and the otorhinolaryngologist is, in laymans terms, an ear, nose and throat doctor.

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.

Although the AMA is the owner of both the registered trademark and the copyrights to the CPT code, they share it with other medical facilities. Some are The Federal Register and the organization that bills for Medicare and Medicaid. Each is required to pay for a license that entitles them to use it. It makes their billing systems run smoothly.




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