Radiology Coding Alert

Could vertebral fracture assessment get a new code?

The CPT^® Editorial Panel has already posted several approved code changes for 2014, but there are more decisions to come. Preview what’s in the works for 2014 with a look at the following three items which were on the May 2013 agenda, with results to be posted this summer.

1. Office Observation: The panel received a request for two new add-on E/M codes. Each code would apply to observation care in the outpatient setting. CPT^® currently includes 99217 (Observation care discharge day management…), 99218-99220 (Initial Observation care, per day…) and 99224-99226 (Subsequent Observation Care, per day…) for hospital observation services.

2. DXA: Another request asks for the addition of a new 7708X code to be used for DXA bone density study of the axial skeleton with vertebral fracture assessment (VFA). For this new code to make sense, the request suggests that 77080 and 77082 be revised to represent DXA VFA without bone density study. The 2013 code definitions are:

• 77080, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bone density study, 1 or more sites axial skeleton (e.g., hips, pelvis, spine)
• 77082, Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), bone density study, 1 or more sites vertebral fracture assessment.

3. Breast OCT:  There’s a proposal for three new Category III codes for breast optical coherence tomography (OCT) procedures. OCT is an imaging method based on light (similar to the way ultrasound is based on sound).

Stay updated: The May 2013 Agenda is online at www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/cpt/may-2013-public-panel-agenda.pdf. A summary of the actions taken will be posted this summer on the “CPT^® Editorial Summary of Panel Actions” site: www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/solutions-managing-your-practice/coding-billing-insurance/cpt/cpt-summary-panel-actions.page.

To learn more about the accepted proposals, see Radiology Coding Alert, vol. 15, no. 7.