Medical billing is a complicated position that requires training. There are a myriad of procedures, medications and illnesses with difficult to spell names. A coder must know the Current Procedural Terminology, known as the cpt codes to function in that position.

Experts sitting on a panel, the CPT editorial panel, oversee the administration of the coding. Of experts exists called the CPT Editorial Panel. They work under the auspices and direction of the AMA. There is a copyright owned and protected by that august organization.

This code was created to make clear what was administered to each patient in the communications transmitted from one medical department to another. Separate ones identify diagnoses, surgeries and all other medical processes.

ICD-10 coding identifies the illness or condition a patient is suffering from. Three types of CPT code exist, identified as Category I, Category II and Category III. In Category I you will find six sections. Some examples of Category I are Office or outpatient, Critical care and Home health care services.

They are item specific. One category applies to the administration of anesthesia. Each body part that is being operated on uses a separate code. Some examples include the extremities, the head and the eyes.

Individual numbers assigned to surgical services may include pelvic, reproductive system and auditory system. To make the billing very specific, a cochlear implant surgery is classified under auditory system. Billing is rendered less complicated when used in the bills sent out to the patient.

There are those for radiology, which include treatments of radiation oncology, mammograms and ultrasound tests. Pregnant women can be reassured that the baby is healthy. It is often possible to identify if the baby is a boy or girl.

Another category is pathology and laboratory. Drug testing, a simple urinalysis and various testing of the blood fall under this category. Transfusions are included. The postmortems, also known as autopsies, are classified here.

The ones for the category named medicine include routine vaccinations, administering those immunizations and treatments for kidney disease, which are transfusions to clean the blood. It is dialysis that maintains the patients life while they wait for a kidney transplant. After that, if successful, they will no longer require dialysis treatments.

This same classifications for medicine include psychiatry, special otorhinolaryngologic services and noninvasive vascular diagnostic studies. The otorhinolaryngologic specialist is also known as an ear, nose and throat man or woman.

Numbers in Category II have four numbers followed by an alphabetical letter to identify them. This classification contains eleven codes. Included are routine physical exams, diagnostic screenings and taking the patients medical history.

Under Category III you will find the ones for psychotherapy and other counseling services. From time to time codes are retired. This year will not see a change in the psychological testing code. Each year they are re-evaluated.

Although the AMA is the owner of both the registered trademark and the copyrights to the CPT code, they share it with other medical facilities. Some are The Federal Register and the organization that bills for Medicare and Medicaid. Each is required to pay for a license that entitles them to use it. It makes their billing systems run smoothly.