The American College of Radiology® (ACR®), Radiological Society of North America, American Roentgen Ray Society and Association of University Radiologists requested Current Procedure Terminology (CPT®) codes at the recent Feb. 2021 American Medical Association (AMA) CPT Editorial Panel meeting. The virtual meeting was the first of three meetings to update Category I codes for the 2023 CPT code cycle.
The ACR, led by Mark Alson, MD, FACR, RCC, and representatives of several radiology specialty societies, including Timothy Crummy, MD, FACR, RCC; Eric Rubin, MD, FACR, RCC; Dana Smetherman, MD, MPH, MBA, FACR; Andrew Degnan, MD, MPhil; and Shiva Gupta, MD, presented code proposals to request Category III codes for new and emerging technologies, including quantitative ultrasound tissue characterization (non-elastographic) and artificial intelligence analysis for detection of vertebral fractures. The latter represents the first radiology-specific artificial intelligence CPT code proposal.
If approved, the new Category III codes will be released early on July 1, 2021, on the AMA’s website, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2022.