News: CPT 2018 update brings four new E/M codes, massive revisions and updates

The 2018 CPT manual contains a total of 314 code changes, including updates that range from revised observation visits in the E/M chapter to new photodynamic therapy services in the medicine chapter and two new modifiers, according to Part B News.

Especially pertinent for CDI professionals, four observation E/M codes were revised. There’s been a slight change in the verbiage of one discharge and three initial observation care E/M codes, 99217-99220, as the CPT update adds the term “outpatient hospital” to describe the observation status in question.

For example, the descriptor for 99217 now reads, “this code is to be utilized to report all services provided to a patient on discharge from outpatient hospital ‘observation status.’”

Additionally, five codes for anesthesia for gastro-endoscopic procedures were added and three low-volume codes were deleted.

The surgical codes also got a revamp with the update. Of particular interest, the flap repair code has been updated to allow for more specific location coding; a new add-on code allows reporting preparation of a tumor cavity; eight codes were deleted, four revised, and 16 added for endovascular repairs of aortic aneurysms; and the diagnostic and pathology testing codes were updated for further specificity.

Editor’s note: To read the entire list of changes, deletions, and additions, read the article from DecisionHealth. To read about the 2018 OPPS proposed rule, click here.