AMA Approves New CPT Code for Serum HER-2 Test

TARRYTOWN, New York—The American Medical Association (AMA) has approved a unique Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code for the serum HER-2/neu oncoprotein test. The CPT code, 83950 became effective January 1, 2002, for most health insurance programs.

Additionally, the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) has proposed that the oncoprotein HER-2/neu serum test be reimbursed at $89.01, starting in January 2002 for Medicare.

As a complement to conventional tissue testing such as immunohistochemistry or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), which can determine a woman’s HER-2 status, serum monitoring provides a "real time" picture of a woman’s HER-2 levels, according to a press release by Bayer Diagnostics.

Development and commercialization of the serum HER-2/neu oncoprotein test began in 1997 as a collaboration between Bayer Diagnostics and Oncogene Science. Today, Bayer Diagnostics’ Oncogene Science Group functions as a specialized center of excellence focused on clinical research and development of cancer diagnostic tests based on oncogenes, tumor-suppressor genes, and other gene targets whose proteins are directly involved in tumor growth or metastasis.