A CPT code is a set of codes used by insurance companies to define rates paid to practitioners who perform a service. The set of codes ensure uniformity, and patients can use these to find out reimbursement rates related to insurance billings. In the past, people had to call their insurance companies or doctors’ offices to find out what the codes meant, but nowadays these are found on the internet.

What Is a CPT Code?

Current Procedural Terminology or CPT codes published by AMA (American Medical Association) provide a uniform way of accurately describing certain medical/surgical/diagnostic services. For example, a CPT code for echocardiogram consists of 5-digit numeric codes, which doctors, hospitals and other healthcare providers use to reference services performed. In general, there are close to 7,800 CPT codes, with numbers ranging from 00100 to 99499. Some codes are appended with two-digit modifiers to modifyor clarify certain descriptions of procedures.

There are two versions of the CPT codes. One is the CPT Physician’s Current Procedural Terminology, which is common, and the other publication is available as the Specially Annotated version for hospitals. The latter contains all information contained in the original version, but in addition, it has special Medicare guidelines and other notations for criteria related to outpatient billing.

There are complex rules for assigning appropriate codes, so it is advisable that people who want to determine appropriate codes to receive proper training or credentials. This is especially important for clinic or office personnel who play significant roles in coding.

How to Match CPT Codes to the Services They Represent

You probably have paperwork with CPT code for echocardiogram on it, and so you want to determine what those codes represent. Here are some ways to do that:

• Search the American Medical Association (AMA) website to do a free search for the CPT codes. This site gives patients the capability to search for CPT codes by just using a keyword to find them.
• Call the doctor's office to ask for help regarding the CPT codes.
• Contact your insurer’s billing personnel to ask for help about the CPT codes.

Some codes can be bundled, but they can be searched in the same way.

What Is an Echocardiogram? What Is It For?

Anecho or echocardiogram is an ultrasound test that utilizes sound waves to make images of the heart. The high-pitched sound waves are sent through a transducer and the device picks up the echoes as they bounce off the tissue of your heart. The echoes are converted into moving images of the heart, which can be viewed on a video screen.

There are different types of echocardiograms, which include:

• The transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE), which is the most common device. By moving the transducer along your chest wall or abdominal wall, different views of the heart can be obtained.
• The stress echocardiogram, where an echocardiogram is done before and after exercise, which stresses your heart. Views of the heart may also be obtained after injecting a drug that makes the heart beat faster. This test is usually performed to find out if there is a decrease in blood flow to the heart, which usually occurs in coronary artery disease.
• Doppler echocardiogram, which determines how your blood flows through your heart’s chambers, valves, and blood vessels. Sound waves are reflected to the transducer as your blood moves. The ultrasound’s computer measures the speed and direction of blood flow through the heart and blood vessels. These measurements may be demonstrated in color or black and white.
• Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE), wherein a probe is passed down your esophagus (instead of over your chest wall). This allows clearer pictures of your heart to be shown, since the probe has a closer proximity to the heart and the lungs and tissues in the chest wall do not obstruct sound waves from the probe. A local anesthetic in the throat and a sedative may be used to keep you comfortable during the test.

List of CPT Code for Echocardiogram

Note that this code list is abstract from 2015 version (January 1, 2015).