AMA (American Medical Association) has again introduced four new CPT codes for Coronavirus testing. The new codes add to the AMA’s growing list of coronavirus-related CPT codes that have been approved and published for the 2021 code set.

The new CPT codes are 86408 for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody screen; code 86409 for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titer; and codes 0225U and 0226U for proprietary laboratory analyses to detect SARS-CoV-2.

Coronavirus antibody testing is now broadly available as communities reopen and start to resume normal activities. The tests can determine if a person has had a past coronavirus infection even if they have never shown symptoms by verifying whether their body has created antibodies to help fight the infection.

Z code used for Coding COVID 19 diagnosis

Description of CPT code 86408, 86409, 0225U & 0226U

86408 Neutralizing antibody, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]); screen

86409 titer

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CPT Code 86408 was established for reporting SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody screen and CPT code 86409 for reporting SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titer. Currently, no existing CPT codes are specifically for tests that measure a patient’s SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. There also are not codes related to utilizing a cellular reporter system
to measure live virus infection of cells in culture.

A cellular response to infection is measured through the use of a cellular reporter system as a measure of infection. These tests determine if antibodies present in a patient specimen can directly block infection of cells expressing the viral entry receptor on their surface.

0225U Infectious disease (bacterial or viral respiratory tract infection) pathogen-specific DNA and RNA, 21 targets, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), amplified probe technique, including multiplex reverse transcription for RNA targets, each analyte reported as detected or not detected

0226U Surrogate viral neutralization test (sVNT), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) (Coronavirus disease [COVID-19]), ELISA, plasma, serum

New code 0225U describes infectious agent detection by nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) by amplified probe technique through polymerase chain reaction and electrochemical detection that generates a result of detected or not detected for each of the analytes. Code 0226U describes a high-throughput quantitative blocking ELISA assay to assess the patient’s viral neutralization capacity to SARS-CoV-2.

References:

https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/ama-announces-new-cpt-codes-for-coronavirus-testing

https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/2020-08/cpt-assistant-guide-coronavirus-august-2020.pdf