The American Medical Association maintains a code set that describes the complete range of medical services. The codes provide a short cut to describing the services that are performed by doctors and healthcare providers on a fee basis. As a proprietary product, the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) reference is not readily available without charge. The list of codes and the services that they
. represent is widely available when the right to use it is purchased. At that time, the reference is made available to subscribers on an online basis.The codes use a numbering system that requires five digits to delineate medical procedures as well as surgeries and diagnostics. One primary purpose of the code is to communicate pricing for services among doctors and insurance companies. Healthcare workers use the codes to file patient charges with the companies that insure them. The coding system allows the healthcare provider to use a recognized way to establish a price for each procedure that a patient receives.The primary problem with obtaining free access to the documentation is that the CPT reference is owned and maintained by the American Medical Association. They make updates to it every year, and they have total legal possession of the document. Their copyright ensures that they retain ownership of the document in its original and its updated forms. With its investment in originating and maintaining the document, the AMA exercises its right to charge a fee for the use of its property.Some online sites offer temporary access to the CPT and others offer a free trial. The cost to subscribe to online access is a significant fee, so it does not seem unusual that free access is extremely rare. Anyone who needs access to the document is in the medical field or a related field, so the price of using the reference may fall into the general category of the cost of doing business.
