The American College of Radiology® (ACR®) requested Current Procedure Terminology® (CPT®) codes at the recent Oct. 2020 American Medical Association (AMA) CPT Editorial Panel meeting. The meeting was held virtually due to COVID-19 and was the last of three meetings to update codes for the 2022 CPT code cycle.
The ACR commends the following radiology CPT Advisors: Mark Alson, MD, FACR (ACR); Tim Crummy, MD, FACR (Radiological Society of North America); Eric Rubin, MD, FACR and Dana Smetherman, MD, MPH, MBA, FACR (American Roentgen Ray Society); Andrew Degnan, MD, MPhil (Association of University Radiologists); and Shiva Gupta, MD (ACR guest), for their hard work during the creation and presentation of code proposals for the request of CPT Category I codes for Trabecular Bone Score (TBS) and Category III codes for Quantitative Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance (MR), a new and emerging technology. If approved, the new TBS Category I codes will be effective Jan. 1, 2022. If approved, the new Quantitative Multiparametric MR Category III codes will have an early release to the AMA website on Jan. 1, 2021, with an effective date of July 1, 2021.
In addition, the radiology CPT advisors worked with several specialty societies on code proposals to delete CPT code 72275 (Epidurography, radiological supervision and interpretation) due to low volume and updated the Automated Coronary Analysis Guidelines to accompany the new Category III codes for automated quantification and characterization of coronary atherosclerotic plaque, which were previously approved at the May 2020 CPT Editorial Panel meeting.
For calendar year 2021, the anticipated radiology code changes are posted in the March/April 2020 ACR Radiology Coding Source™. Be sure to check the upcoming Sept./Oct. 2020 issue of the ACR Radiology Coding Source for the complete finalized list of 2021 codes with descriptors pertinent to radiology.
The ACR urges its members to review and consider how the code changes may impact their practices for the coming year.