How Our Atlanta Workers Comp and Serious Injury Lawyers Use CPT Codes
As mentioned in previous blogs, Current Procedural Terminology Codes (CPT Codes) are a major part of medical records and billing. Our Douglasville law firm uses these codes when reviewing and summarizing medical records and bills. Basically, this is a coding system used by medical professionals to describe specific procedures, services, etc. It is essential to understand these codes, or have some sort of reference material to help, to properly follow along with a client’s medical treatment.
The AMA first developed and published CPT in 1966. This edition primarily focused on surgical procedures and had limited information available for medicine, radiology, and lab procedures. Later editions developed these sections more thoroughly and also included sections on therapeutic procedures and other specialty sections. My Douglas County workers’ compensation and personal injury law firm currently uses the Millennium Edition of the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) book published for 2003. The edition is color-coded and very user-friendly. My staff refers to this publication while reviewing extensive medical records for clients who have had several medical procedures throughout the course of their case. There are steps to use to adequately “read” each coding. These steps can be found in the book or on the AMA’s website.
