AMA releases first set of technical corrections and errata for 2018 CPT manual

by: Julia Kyles, CPC Nov 22, 2017

You receive a new CPT manual from the American Medical Association every year, but remember to check the errata and technical corrections that AMA posts on its website: That information can make the difference between payment and denial.

The first round of updates for the 2018 CPT manual are available and contain 13 technical corrections -- which the AMA defines as "clarifications of original Panel intent for the current code structure” -- for a variety of services. The majority are in the E/M section of the book. Changes include:

Care management services. The CPT editorial panel deleted the instruction that stated clinical staff time could not be counted on the same day the doctor or qualified health care professional billed one of 28 E/M services, including new and established office visits.
Cognitive care. The new code 99483 replaces G0505. The update changed the list of codes that 99483 may not be reported in conjunction with by removing chronic and transitional care management (99487, 99489, 99490, 99495, 99496) and adding health risk assessment (96160-96161).
Complex chronic care. The coding tip related to care management in the emergency room has been deleted and replaced with an instruction that time the doctor spends on clinical staff activities should be included in the required clinical staff time.

Remember to check the website regularly -- the AMA will update the document as it discovers more issues. It will issue any corrections to the 2018 CPT Changes in a separate document. And keep a close eye on your remittance advices for services that are impacted by the corrections. The payer may not catch the correction, and you'll need to send a copy of the errata with your appeal to get paid.

Blog Tags: AMA, claims processing

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