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AMP Submits Proposal to AMA Covering CPT Codes for Sequencing-based Assays

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Association for Molecular Pathology today announced that it has submitted to an American Medical Association panel its proposal for CPT codes for sequencing-based assays.

The proposal was developed by AMP's Economic Affairs Committee — which develops and advocates for sound economic policies that "promote the provision of high quality molecular pathology services" — and was submitted to AMA's CPT Editorial Panel.

As capabilities in human genome analysis increase, AMP said that countless new reimbursement codes will be required. Its report to AMA comprises two approaches: a technology-agnostic, single-code strategy; and a code-mate strategy.

The first method would rely "on a single, methodology-agnostic code that includes both technical and interpretive work," while the latter approach would introduce separate codes for technical processes and for interpretive processes.

Today's report follows a white paper from AMP in 2011 for CPT coding of molecular pathology tests, the association said. Last May, GenomeWeb Daily News sister publication Clinical Sequencing News also reported that AMP was creating a proposal for CPT coding of next-generation sequencing-based assays.

The full AMP proposal can be viewed here.

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