There has been a new category of codes that can report both COVID-19 and the seasonal flu at the same time. Continue reading below for more information.nnAs of October 7th, in preparation for the upcoming flu season, the American Medical Association (AMA) released new codes to address the multi-virus testing that clinicians and the health care industry will be testing for in the coming months. These new codes, 87636, 87637, 87426 and 87811, have been approved for immediate use. Long code descriptions are as follows;nn87636 – Infectious agent detection by nucleic acid (DNA or RNA); severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) and influenza virus types A and B, multiplex amplified probe techniquenn87637 – Infectious agent detection by nucleic acid (DNA or RNA); severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]), influenza virus types A and B, and respiratory syncytial virus, multiplex amplified probe techniquenn87426 – Infectious agent antigen detection by immunoassay technique, (eg, enzyme immunoassay [EIA], enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA], fluorescence immunoassay [FIA], immunochemiluminometric assay [IMCA]) qualitative or semiquantitative; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (eg, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19]) In accordance with the above revision, the CPT Editorial Panel approved a new category I code,nn87811, to report infectious agent antigen detection by immunoassay with direct visual observation. 87811 – Infectious agent antigen detection by immunoassay with direct optical (ie, visual) observation; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]) The complete press release is available through the AMA’s website.
