Cardiology Coding Alert
Update Your ICD Codes With CPT® 2015
Question: In looking through the code changes for 2015 that impact our practice, I noticed a ton of changes to codes for implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). Could you characterize the changes to help me understand what’s going on?
Codify Subscriber
Answer: Most of the revisions are a simple wording change, but you shouldn’t ignore them because they may help you distinguish between the codes for ICDs with transvenous electrodes and those with subcutaneous electrodes. (For more on subcutaneous ICDs, see “Replace Your Old Cat. III Codes for S-ICD With New and Old Cat. I Options in 2015” in Cardiology Coding Alert, Vol. 17, No. 11.)
Add implantable/delete cardioverter: Several code descriptors remove either “pacing cardioverter” or “cardioverter” from in front of the word “defibrillator” and add “implantable.” As a result the code descriptors refer to “implantable defibrillator” instead of a “pacing cardioverter defibrillator” or “cardioverter defibrillator”:
Delete cardioverter: Three device evaluation codes already referenced “implantable” in their 2014 descriptors, so the 2015 update leaves “implantable” in place, but deletes “cardioverter” from in front of “defibrillator”:
Add transvenous/delete cardioverter: Three codes for in-person programming evaluation get an update to add “transvenous” and delete “cardioverter” so they now refer to a “transvenous implantable defibrillator” instead of an “implantable cardioverter defibrillator”:
Add transvenous: In one code, CPT® 2015 keeps the term “pacing cardioverter,” but adds “transvenous” to refer to “transvenous pacing cardioverter-defibrillator.” We’ll keep you posted on whether this changes in the future:
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