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Primary Care Coding Alert

CPT® 2012:

Don't Miss Terminology Change in 96110, 96111

Published on Tue Jan 10, 2012

Developmental 'testing' changes to 'screening.' Focusing on new codes will help keep your claims compliant in 2012, but descriptor revisions or clarifications can also affect your code selection. Case in point: New wording for codes 96110 and 96111 shifts from describing "testing" to "screening." The new descriptors are: 96110 -- Developmental screening, with interpretation and report, per standardized instrument form96111 -- Developmental testing, (includes assessment of motor, language, social, adaptive, and/or cognitive functioning by standardized developmental instruments) with interpretation and reportThese changes are significant because CPT® 2011 listed both codes as developmental "testing" codes, with 96110 referring to "limited" testing and 96111 describing "extended" tests. Now the descriptors more closely relate to how practices actually refer to these codes, since many doctors document "screening" when they perform the services described by 96110.
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