In: Nursing
Q2: Distinguish between CPT codes for medical specialties, surgery, hospital outpatient reporting, pathology and laboratory procedures and other procedures based on the sections included in category I.
Ans) CPT codes are used to describe tests, surgeries, evaluations, and any other medical procedure performed by a healthcare provider on a patient. As you might imagine, this code set is extremely large, and includes the codes for thousands upon thousands of medical procedures.
- CPT codes are an integral part of the billing process. CPT codes tell the insurance payer what procedures the healthcare provider would like to be reimbursed for. As such, CPT codes work in tandem with ICD codes to create a full picture of the medical process for the payer. “This patient arrived with these symptoms (as represented by the ICD code) and we performed these procedures (represented by the CPT code).
- Like ICD codes, CPT codes are also used to track important health data and measure performance and efficiency. Government agencies can use CPT codes to track the prevalence and value of certain procedures, and hospitals may use CPT codes to evaluate the efficiency and abilities of individuals or divisions within their facility.