New CPT codes address advancing understanding of COVID-19

An updated set of Current Procedural Terminology codes includes two for reporting medical services necessitated during the COVID-19 pandemic public health response. The American Medical Association yesterday announced the update, which include:

• CPT code 99072, which describes additional supplies and clinical staff time to perform safety protocols for the provision of evaluation, treatment or procedural services during a public health emergency in a setting where extra precautions are taken to ensure the safety of patients as well as health care professionals; and
• CPT code 86413, which accounts for laboratory tests that can measure antibodies to investigate a person’s adaptive immune response to the virus and help access the effectiveness of treatments used against the infection.

Long, short and medium descriptors for both codes can be accessed on the AMA website, along with several other recent modifications to the CPT code set that have helped streamline the public health response to the SAR-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 disease.