AMA Releases CPT® 2026
- By Renee Dustman
- In AAPC News
- October 2, 2025
- Comments Off on AMA Releases CPT® 2026
Coders will be relieved to see one section relatively untouched for the first time in years.
The calendar year (CY) 2026 update to the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) CPT® code set includes hundreds of new, revised, or deleted codes for reporting medical services and procedures.
CPT® 2026 includes 288 new codes for medical, surgical, and diagnostic services. In all, there are 418 changes, including 84 deletions and 46 revisions, all of which are effective (but not necessarily implemented by payers) Jan. 1, 2026.
For complete details, be sure to catch the 2026 CPT® Coding Updates webinar, Nov. 25, hosted by Raemarie Jimenez, CPC, CDEO, CIC, CPB, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CANPC, CRHC, president, AAPC. AAPC members can also read Jimenez’s article on CPT® 2026 in the December issue of AAPC the Magazine.
The following is a quick look at some of the more notable code changes for CY 2026.
CPT® Category I Code Changes
New codes appear in several sections of CPT® 2026, including:
- In the Evaluation and Management (E/M) Services section, you’ll find:
- New codes 99445 and 99470 report remote physiologic monitoring treatment management services after 10 minutes of service per calendar month;
- Existing remote monitoring codes 99454, 99457, and 99458 are revised to reflect shorter time durations; and
- New guidelines for these codes.
- But that’s about it for changes to E/M codes for 2026!
- There are numerous changes in the Surgery section, including:
- Revisions to existing codes; and
- Many new codes, including lower extremity revascularization codes 37254-37299, biopsy codes 55707-55715, and spinal decompression codes 62330-63032.
- In the Radiology section, there are several code deletions and revisions, as well as new codes:
- To report computed tomographic angiography and analysis (70471-70473), and
- Surface radiation therapy (77436-77439).
- In the Pathology and Laboratory section of CPT® 2026, there are the expected code additions and deletions for proprietary laboratory analyses (PLA). Most of these codes were released early and are already in effect.
- In the Medicine section, you will find:
- The code for respiratory syncytial virus vaccine (90382), which has been in effect since July and several other new vaccine codes;
- New codes for hearing devices, starting with 92628 to report an evaluation for hearing aid candidacy and 92631 to report hearing aid selection services, including review of audiologic function tests; and
- Many other new codes, such as 97007-97009 for reporting mechanical scalp cooling.
Category III Code Changes
There is always a lot of action in this section as emerging technologies either become mainstream and reassigned to Category I codes or become irrelevant and removed from the code set completely.
In CPT® 2026, just to name a few, you’ll find new codes for things like remote interrogation device evaluations, ablation of benign prostate tissue using high intensity-focused ultrasound (HIFU), totally implantable active middle ear hearing implants, partial craniectomies, assistive algorithmic classification of burn healing, selective enzymatic debridement, and many more new and exciting technologies.
Remember to watch the 2026 CPT® Coding Updates webinar, Nov. 25, hosted by Raemarie Jimenez, CPC, CDEO, CIC, CPB, CPMA, CPPM, CPC-I, CANPC, CRHC.
Source
https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/ama-releases-cpt-2026-code-set?utm_source
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