Healthcare Classifications and Terminologies

The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) consists of codes and descriptive terms that are used to report medical services and procedures furnished by physicians, other providers, and healthcare facilities. The CPT codes are maintained and updated annually by the American Medical Association (AMA).

CPT copyright 2019 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.

The CPT Codebook contains much of the instructional guidance for using the codebook.  All of the sections in the CPT book begin with the guidelines that pertain to the entire section.  Each of the sections is further divided and many of the subdivisions contain instructional notes that pertain to that subdivision.  The Introduction of the CPT codebook also contains important instructions.

Additionally the AMA publishes coding advice in products such as CPT Assistant, a monthly newsletter, and CPT Network, an online resource.  Learn more about these resources.

The American Hospital Association publishes the Coding Clinic for HCPCS which provides coding advice on HCPCS Level II codes and also on CPT codes for hospitals. It contains coding advice as designated by the four Cooperating Parties (American Hospital Association, American Health Information Management Association, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and National Center for Health Statistics) and the Editorial Advisory Board. This quarterly newsletter is available for purchase.

Refer to payer policies for additional documentation and billing guidelines pertaining to reporting of procedures to payers.