APhA Applauds Unified Work Of The Profession On MTM CPT Codes

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 23 Oct 2007 - 4:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) applauds the collaborative work by the pharmacy profession to obtain Category I status of the MTMS Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Codes. This is an important step towards extending pharmacists' ability to provide valuable professional services for their patients.

"The effort of the organizations involved in obtaining permanent status for the MTM CPT codes is to be commended. Having permanent CPT codes for pharmacist-provided MTM services is important to building the business model for MTM services," said Anne Burns, BPharm, APhA Vice President for Professional Affairs. "Expansion of MTM services means that more pharmacists can help patients make the best use of their medications."

Achievement of this recognition and the integration of pharmacists and their professional services into the traditional medical services billing model was due to the collaborative efforts of the Pharmacy Services Technical Advisory Coalition (PSTAC) and its member representatives with the American Medical Association (AMA) CPT approval process. PSTAC is a coalition of seven national pharmacy organizations including: the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), and the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).

First adopted in 2005 and categorized as appropriate for reporting and reimbursing "emerging procedures and services," CPT codes for pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) services are now officially a permanent part of the most widely used health care classification system. The American Medical Association (AMA) CPT Editorial Panel representing all specialties of medicine and allied health care professionals including pharmacists is in charge of developing CPT codes. CPT codes are used by health care professionals for documenting and billing professional services.

The American Medical Association (AMA) CPT Editorial Panel met in February 2007 and decided to upgrade the codes for providing individual, face-to-face patient assessments and medication therapy-related interventions from temporary Category III to permanent Category I status when they saw evidence that MTM services are being provided by pharmacists nationwide to hundreds of thousands of patients and that the temporary codes were widely used. The new codes are effective January 1, 2008.

For more information on the new MTM CPT codes go to the http://www.pharmacist.com news story: CPT codes for MTM made permanent

Additional information about MTM and PSTAC is available at http://www.pharmacist.com/mtm and http://www.pstac.org.

About the American Pharmacists Association (APhA)

The American Pharmacists Association, founded in 1852 as the American Pharmaceutical Association, represents more than 60,000 practicing pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and others interested in advancing the profession. APhA, dedicated to helping all pharmacists improve medication use and advance patient care, is the first-established and largest association of pharmacists in the United States. APhA members provide care in all practice settings, including community pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care facilities, managed care organizations, hospice settings, and the military.

http://www.pharmacist.com

• Additional
• References
• Citations