The 2007 CPT Code books are now available.  The American Medical Association has released the new 2007 CPT Code Books that include new, revised, and deleted Nuclear Medicine Codes.  Changes proposed by the Society of Nuclear Medicine have been made to clarify existing codes to accurately reflect current diagnostic practices as well as to delete codes that are obsolete and are no longer performed according to current practice standards.  Some of the important changes include:

Genitourinary System imaging codes, 78700, 78701, 78707, 78708, 78709, and 78710, were revised to include greater clarity between the codes:

• 'Static only' was deleted from the description for code 78700.
•  'Kidney imaging' was deleted from codes 78707 and 78710 to promote the relationship between these codes as a related series.
• The term 'with vascular flow and function' was added to codes 78708 and 78709 for added clarity.
• Codes 78704 and 78715 were deleted and parenthetical references were added to utilize 78707 – 78709 and 78701 – 78709 respectively for these services.
• Code 78704 previously described kidney imaging with a function study for performance of a measurement of renal function utilizing Iodine 131 Hippuran, which is no longer a current practice.  This study has been replaced by code 78707, which utilizes technetium 99m radiopharmaceuticals, i.e., Tc99m DTPA and Tc99m MAG3.  These imaging agents permit the evaluation of vascular flow and kidney function with one injection whereas current procedures involve both vascular flow and analysis of uptake and excretion.
• Code 78715 described an obsolete renal vascular flow study that is not performed to current practice standards.

In addition to the above Genitourinary System clarifications and deletions, code 78730 was revised to become an add-on to code 78740 to reflect the original intent for use in conjunction with the assessment of ureteral reflux.  Parenthetical instructions provide cross-references for additional clarity regarding the use of code 51798 and 76857.  Code 78760 was deleted and code 78761 was revised to reflect both imaging and vascular flow since testicular imaging is never performed without an initial vascular flow study.

Other important changes that impact nuclear medicine include revisions to codes 76376 and 76377 which describe 3-D rendering of computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and other tomographic modalities with and without image post processing on an independent workstation:

• Code descriptions for both of the these codes remain unchanged for 2007 except that the parenthetical descriptors now specifically exclude all of the nuclear medicine codes, 78000-78999.  The addition of the nuclear medicine codes to these parenthetical instructions exclude procedures in which 3-D rendering is judged to be an inherent component of the procedure and would not be reported separately.
• The same rationale applies to the inclusion of new cardiac CTA codes 0144T – 0151T that include 3-D processing as an inherent part of the procedure.

The above CPT code changes are effective January 1, 2007 and you will need to make changes to your charge masters to reflect these revisions prior to the effective date as the elimination of the 90-day grace period continues in effect.