The AMA’s New Procedural Updates

The AMA’s released their new 2022 Current Procedural Terminology code set, known as the CPT. The updates include 24 new vaccine-specific codes, modeled for the efficient coding and tracking of administration of the vaccines against coronavirus. These are not the first codes of their kind, as November 2020 saw the codes produced to distinguish between each vaccine and their dosing schedules. This year, in August, we also saw the development and implementation of the codes to report the third, or booster, doses of Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines, as well as Pfizer’s tris-sucrose vaccine formulation for children ages 5 to 11. Due to the surge in vaccine codes, the AMA is offering a vaccine code finder, aiding in identifying the appropriate code combination for the dose and type of vaccine that each patient receives. The 2022 code set also comes with an appendix that gives access to all the codes for coronavirus vaccination.

Due to the continued use of remote examinations, and telehealth still being used widely, five new codes have also been developed, there are now 5 new codes expanding on the ones developed last year to report on remote physiological monitoring and therapeutic processes through online appointments.

There’s also been a special section added, which is meant as CPT education, known as AMA Ed Hub. This is an online learning platform containing education and CME, as well as a full overview of coding basics and other CPT topics.