CPT License FAQ

Thank you for your interest in and support of Practice Fusion. Practice Fusion understands that these are challenging times for our customers, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to continue to serve you. Over the last several months, we have been working tirelessly to offer you new products and services – some at either no cost or a reduced cost – to enable our customers to continue to grow their practices. Unfortunately, some costs, like the American Medical Association (AMA) CPT™ licensing fees, are outside of our control.

The following facts may provide additional clarity:

1. The CPT Standard Data File is created and maintained by the AMA. The AMA has certain copyright and trademark protections for CPT. The AMA governs use of CPT codes.
2. Any individual or entity using CPT codes needs an appropriate license from the AMA or an AMA-authorized distributor. This is not unique to Practice Fusion users.
3. Practice Fusion does not charge its customers to use or access CPT codes.
4. The AMA has advised Practice Fusion that starting in 2021, the authorized AMA distributor for Practice Fusion customers is Optum360.
5. Practice Fusion does not have a role in determining the terms of CPT code licenses, including the financial terms.
6. While the AMA and its authorized distributors are the parties to whom questions about the terms of CPT code licenses should be addressed, Practice Fusion can provide some basic information for its customers.
   
   1. We know that the annual fee for licensing CPT codes is currently determined by the AMA by multiplying total number of doctors by cost per user per year ($17).
   2. The AMA currently estimates that, for each doctor, a practice will have a total of four users (inclusive of the doctor). If a Practice Fusion practice has fewer users, the annual license fee may be adjusted accordingly.
   3. In an attempt to make this administratively easier, the AMA has partnered with Optum360 to help you obtain your CPT code license. For more specific help or guidance about your individual practice situation, Practice Fusion recommends that you contact Optum360.
   4. For practices that do not use CPT codes, no CPT code license is necessary.
   5. The annual cost of a CPT license is not included in Practice Fusion’s monthly fee because Practice Fusion is not best positioned to administer these costs and advise our practices for several reasons, including that Practice Fusion and the AMA define users differently and bill in different increments. In addition, not all Practice Fusion customers do in fact want or need a CPT code license.

Additional information can be found on the Practice Fusion Knowledge Base at https://help.practicefusion.com/s/article/CPT-License-FAQ.