AMA releases 2022 CPT code set with new options that apply to COVID-19 vaccination, digital care services and more

The set features more than 400 changes from 2021, including new codes for principal care management.

Healthcare coding professionals should take note of changes issued by the American Medical Association (AMA) to the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code set for 2022.

Some changes apply to administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. Eight codes in the series for COVID-19 vaccination were approved in the latest update. A tracker is available to help with coding based on vaccine brand and dose.

The vaccine-specific codes are among 405 changes to the code set for 2022. The updates include 249 new codes, 93 revisions and 63 deletions.

Accounting for the expansion of digital services

Five new codes — 98975, 98976, 98977, 98980, 98981 — will be available to report therapeutic remote monitoring, reflecting the increase in digital care services amid the pandemic. “These codes expand on the remote physiologic monitoring codes that were created in 2020,” AMA wrote in a Sept. 7 news release, referring to codes 99453, 99454, 99457 and 99458.

Included in the new code set is a taxonomy that supports “increased awareness and understanding of approaches to patient care through the multifaceted digital medicine services available for reporting,” AMA wrote.

Technology continues to be a driver of CPT code changes, the AMA noted, with 43% of the latest changes associated with Category III codes (which are for emerging technologies, services and procedures) or the Proprietary Laboratory Analyses section.

Updating care management protocols

New codes also apply to principal care management, a Medicare program that took effect in 2020. Reimbursement is available under that policy for care management of patients with a single chronic condition, whereas previously such services were reimbursed only for patients with multiple chronic conditions.

The new codes — 99424, 99425, 99426, 99427 — and revisions to existing codes “better align with Medicare guidelines,” AMA wrote.

The complete 2022 code set is available to purchase on Amazon, and the codes and descriptors can be downloaded to a provider’s software solution via a data file.