AMA Fact Sheet: Reporting Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Laboratory Testing

Due to the emergent nature of the public health concern surrounding novel coronavirus testing, the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) Editorial Panel convened a special meeting and approved a new, specific CPT code to describe laboratory testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome corona- virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Note: Per the World Health Organization, the official name of the virus is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), while the name of the disease it causes is coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The AMA expedited the publication of this new CPT code to the AMA website on Friday, March 13, 2020, at https://www.ama-assn.org/ practice-management/cpt/cpt-releases-new- coronavirus-covid-19-code-description-testing. This code is effective immediately for use in reporting this testing service. Note that code 87635 is not in the CPT 2020 publication; however, it will be included in the CPT 2021 code set in
the Microbiology subsection of the Pathology and Laboratory section.