- September 13, 2024
- Posted by: Thomas Anderson
- Categories:
The release of the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) 2025 code set, published by the American Medical Association (AMA), reflects the impact of medical advancements, new technologies, and innovative procedures on healthcare. AMA President Dr. Bruce A. Scott highlighted that the CPT code set plays a crucial role in enabling standardized data exchange, helping to report, measure, analyze, research, and benchmark medical services with the ultimate goal of improving patient care, outcomes, and reducing costs.
The 2025 CPT code set includes 420 updates: 270 new codes, 112 deletions, and 38 revisions. The largest share of new codes (37%) relates to proprietary laboratory analyses, primarily for genetic testing, while Category III CPT codes for emerging medical services represent 30% of the new additions.
The CPT Editorial Panel, an independent body convened by the AMA, oversees an open process to ensure the code set reflects modern healthcare needs. This process ensures that the CPT code set remains relevant in light of advancements in medical science and technology.
Key updates for CPT 2025 include revisions to digital medicine, specifically remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) services. Code 98975 was updated to incorporate digital therapeutic interventions, while codes 98976-98978 were revised to include device supply for data access or transmission. Additionally, the AI taxonomy introduced in 2023 has been applied to classify AI-based medical services, leading to seven new Category III codes for AI-augmented data analysis in areas such as electrocardiograms, medical chest imaging, and image-guided prostate biopsy.
In general surgery, updates were made to reflect new approaches in skin grafts for wound care and techniques for tumor removal within the abdomen.
The AMA encourages healthcare professionals to attend the CPT & RBRVS 2025 Annual Symposium, held virtually in November, to learn more about these updates. CPT coding books and products are also available through the AMA’s Amazon storefront and AMA Intelligent Platform.