The 2009 CPT Update Has Been Released!

The January 1, 2009, CPT annual update has been released by the AMA. To avoid denied claims for improper coding beginning January 1st, all providers must implement this annual update over the next two months - not an easy thing to accomplish for any staff! To help, we've compiled the following summary to give you a sample of the larger procedural services that are changing.

The CPT update included over a hundred new codes, many of which pertain to laparoscopy surgical procedures (43279, 49652 – 49657) and evaluation and management codes that relate to end-stage renal disease monthly services (90951 – 90970). The annual update also deleted nearly 100 codes, which included intravenous infusion procedures (90761 – 90768) and therapeutic injections (90772 – 90776) to name a few. Lastly, the update modified a couple hundred long code descriptions for pre-existing codes. These modifications primarily relate to skin grafts (15201, 15221, 15241, and 15261) and basic metabolic panels (80047 – 80053).

 To view these code changes in CCH ChargeMaster Comply, go to Search Code Sets tab, select the CPT code set, enter a Start Date of 01/01/2009 and in the filter actions, choose Added, Modified, and/or Deleted. From the Search Results screen, you can choose to export your search results, including associated revenue codes, into an Excel or Text format for easy implementation into your CDM. To view these code changes on REX, go to the CPT® Code Book – Pre-Release 2009 Version.