AMA 2025 CPT code set updates focus on novel genetic testing

The AMA has released the 2025 Current Procedural Terminology code set, which includes 420 updates.

"The CPT code set is the foundation for the efficient and effective exchange of standardized information in a data-driven health system, facilitating the reporting, measuring, analyzing, researching and benchmarking of medical services and procedures with the goal of delivering better patient care, improved outcomes and lower costs," Bruce A. Scott, MD, AMA president, said in a press release.

"The latest updates to the CPT code set reflect advancements in contemporary clinical practice and ensure the code set fulfills its vital role as the trusted universal language of medicine," Scott added.

Each year, AMA puts out a new edition of the CPT code set four months before the January 1 operational date. AMA considers updates to the CPT code set through an open editorial process that collects feedback from the healthcare community and other stakeholders to ensure CPT content reflects the modern healthcare system.

The CPT 2025 code set includes 270 new codes, 112 deletions and 38 revisions.

Proprietary laboratory analyses made up the largest proportion of new codes (37%), mostly for novel genetic testing. Category III CPT codes for emerging medical services accounted for 30% of new codes.

Key updates in the CPT 2025 code set include the following:

• AMA editorially revised remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) services within CPT's digital medicine section. AMA updated code 98975 to include digital therapeutic intervention and revised codes 98976-98978 to include device supply for data access or data transmissions to support RTM.
• AMA implemented its AI Taxonomy, introduced in 2023, in category III CPT codes to classify AI medical services and procedures as assistive, augmentative or autonomous. The 2025 CPT code set includes seven new category III codes for AI augmentative data analysis involved in electrocardiogram measurements (0902T and 0932T), medical chest imagining (0877T-0880T) and image-guided prostate biopsy (0898T).
• AMA also updated CPT's general surgery section based on novel approaches in skin grafts for wound care and recovery (15011-15018) and advancements in surgical techniques for the elimination of tumors within the abdomen (49186-49190).

Hannah Nelson has been covering news related to health information technology and health data interoperability since 2020.