Current Procedural Terminology

The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set is a procedural code set developed by the American Medical Association (AMA). It is maintained by the CPT Editorial Panel.^[1] The CPT code set describes medical, surgical, and diagnostic services and is designed to communicate uniform information about medical services and procedures among physicians, coders, patients, accreditation organizations, and payers for administrative, financial, and analytical purposes. New editions are released each October,^[2] with CPT 2021 being in use since October 2021. It is available in both a standard edition and a professional edition.^[3][4]

CPT coding is similar to ICD-10-CM coding, except that it identifies the services rendered, rather than the diagnosis on the claim. Whilst the ICD-10-PCS codes also contains procedure codes, those are only used in the inpatient setting.^[5]

CPT is identified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as Level 1 of the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. Although its use has become federally regulated, the CPT's copyright has not entered the public domain. Users of the CPT code set must pay license fees to the AMA.