Newswise — Bethesda, MD, May 22, 2012: The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) today announced that it is close to finalizing a framework proposal for CPT coding of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assays. These technologies make it possible to deliver large amounts of genomic information at reasonable cost on panels of genes up to whole exomes and genomes. Clinical testing using NGS has begun to be offered by early adopters and is being explored by many academic medical centers and reference laboratories given the rapidly expanding array of scientific and clinical studies. These developments emphasize the importance of incorporating NGS services into the CPT coding system to assist payers in understanding what testing has been performed and to make coverage decisions.
“AMP’s expertise in the technical aspects and clinical impact of molecular testing and the success it has had with previous molecular CPT coding proposals uniquely positions it to address CPT coding for Next Generation Sequencing,” said Jeffrey Kant, MD, PhD, Chair of AMP’s Economic Affairs Committee.
The Committee plans to complete its proposal by the end of June and release it for feedback from stakeholders in the laboratory and payer community before submitting a formal proposal to the AMA CPT Editorial Panel.
Iris Schrijver, MD, President of AMP stated, “AMP members have been involved with the development and application of NGS technologies since their inception. We are proud to provide leadership in this area as well as to collaborate with other professional associations to bring these powerful tools to patient care.”
CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.
ABOUT AMP:The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) is an international medical professional association dedicated to the advancement, practice, and science of clinical molecular laboratory medicine and translational research based on the applications of molecular biology, genetics, and genomics. For more information, please visit www.amp.org.
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