The CPT Code

Abstract

As healthcare has evolved, documentation and coding have become increasingly complicated. With the increasing complexity came a requirement for standardized tracking of procedures across healthcare entities. Resultantly, the American Medical Association (AMA) developed and published the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code, which has become the standard language across providers, hospitals, and healthcare payers for documenting procedures and services. By providing a standardized code set, consistent communication is enhanced to improve patient safety. Today, the CPT code set is divided into three categories that describe commonly procedures performed, measure the performance of quality measures, and track new and emerging practices. The creation and change of the code set is standardized and accessible to allow fair change and maintenance of the code set across the healthcare community.