Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Differentiates HCPCS Codes & CPT codes

While CPT stands for Current Procedural Terminology, HCPCS stands for Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. These are two different code sets for medical billing, and both can be used to submit claims.

The CPT codes are Level I HCPCS codes maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA) while HCPCS is maintained by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The Level I codes are numeric such as 99213 for a mid-level office visit.

The Level II HCPCS is a standardized coding system which is used to identify products, supplies, and services not covered in the CPT codes. Referred to as alpha-numeric codes, these codes consist of a single alphabetical letter followed by four numeric digits.

Which code set you use should be based on choosing the code which accurately describes the service that is performed. Whether that should be a CPT or a HCPCS code must be determined by the provider.

You need to be well-versed with HCPCS CPT code changes and rules to accurately describe the service that is performed. But doing so is not an easy task; it takes up a lot of your time as well.

However, there are various one-stop medical coding websites which will certainly help you get on top of the latest HCPCS CPT code changes so that you know how to code right. Normally, such coding websites come stored with all CPT and HCPCS coding know how and other information that will help you find and use CPT and HCPCS codes more easily.

In other words, such websites will guide you through current modifiers, code additions and deletions, among a host of other information pertaining to HCPCS/CPT codes. So go for one today!

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