Highlights of AHA’s Coding Clinic for HCPCS Second Quarter 2024 Release

3 min read

The Second Quarter 2024 issue of the AHA Coding Clinic for HCPCS newsletter was released June 14, 2024. Let’s explore some of the highlights!

The newsletter is 16 pages long and includes coding advice for 10 Ask the Editor scenarios. It begins with a review of some of the changes to the CPT Surgery Section in the musculoskeletal and respiratory systems.  

• Musculoskeletal System:  
  • Creation of three new codes for spinal instrumentation and one new code for arthrodesis of the sacroiliac joint.  
  • Creation of three new codes for reporting thoracic vertebral body tethering (VBT).
  • Revision to two Category III codes for reporting anterior lumbar and thoracolumbar VBT.  
  • Creation of one new Category III code for reporting revision, replacement or removal of VBT.  
  • In the “Pelvis and Hip” subsection, one new code was created and one code was deleted for reporting arthrodesis of the sacroiliac joint.  
• Respiratory System:
  • Two endoscopic codes were created in the “Accessory Sinuses” subsection  

The newsletter also reports on 56 new, 21 deleted, and 12 revised HCPCS Level II codes. The effective date for the new, deleted, and revised HCPCS Level II codes was April 1, 2024. Additionally, there are two new CPT codes for influenza vaccines that go into effect July 1, 2024. Within the CPT Proprietary Laboratory Analyses (PLA) section, there are:

• 11 new and 2 deleted CPT PLA codes that were effective April 1, 2024, and  
• 26 new and 2 deleted CPT PLA codes that go into effect July 1, 2024.  

Please refer to the CPT codebook for additional coding information including rationale and illustrations.  

The newsletter then addresses 10 specific questions about the application of CPT codes for facility reporting, including advice on esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with forceps biopsies and endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) with fine-needle aspirations (FNA) biopsies of separate lesion, treatment of thoracic myelopathy with recurrent herniated discs, expansion sphincteroplasty with bilateral tonsillectomy, and injections of platelet rich plasma (PRP) and calcium phosphate.  

As always, please read the Second Quarter 2024 volume of AHA Coding Clinic for HCPCS entirely for the best source of medical coding information.