Part B Insider (Multispecialty) Coding Alert

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Your 2011 CPT book isn't even in the mail yet, but you can have a sneak peek at some of the codes that will be in it, thanks to a recent announcement by the American Medical Association.

According to a June 21 AMA announcement, the following Category III CPT Codes have an official release date of July 1, 2010, but won't be implemented until 2011:

• 0242T -- Gastrointestinal tract transit and pressure measurement, stomach through colon, wireless capsule, with interpretation and report
• 0244T -- Continuous measurement of wheeze rate during treatment assessment or during sleep for documentation of nocturnal wheeze and cough for diagnostic evaluation 3 to 24 hours, with interpretation and report
• 0245T -- Open treatment of rip fracture requiring internal fixation, unilateral (eg, flail chest); 1-2 ribs
• 0254T -- Endovascular repair of iliac artery bifurcation (eg, aneurysm, pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, trauma) using bifurcated endoprosthesis from the common iliac artery into both the external and internal iliac artery, unilateral
• 0249T -- Ligation, hemorrhoidal vascular bundle(s), including ultrasound guidance

CPT's Category III codes represent new technology, services, and procedures. The codes are temporary and are used for data collection purposes; often, the codes are subsequently replaced in later years with Category I codes, but not always. In some cases, if the codes are not made into permanent Category I codes, CPT will retire them after five years.

To read the complete list of upcoming Category III CPT codes, visit www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/362/cptcat3codes.pdf.