Current Procedural Terminology

Pronunciation: kur′ent prō-sē′dzhūr-al ter-mi-nol′ŏ-jē

Definition: A formal classification of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed by physicians and other health care providers, published in annual revisions since 1996 by the American Medical Association (AMA). Each procedure is assigned a 5-digit code. The system was developed by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to assist in the assignment of the reimbursement amounts to providers by Medicare carriers. Many managed care and other insurance carriers base their reimbursements on the values established by HCFA.

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