The American College of Radiology (ACR), RSNA, American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), and the Association of University Radiologists (AUR) have proposed the first radiology-specific artificial intelligence (AI) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code.
The category III CPT code request for AI analysis in detection of vertebral fractures was proposed at the recent February American Medical Association (AMA) CPT Editorial Panel meeting, according to the ACR. The organizations also requested a category III code for non-elastographic quantitative ultrasound tissue characterization.
If approved, the new category III codes would be released on July 1 and take effect on January 1, 2022, the ACR said.
![A normal mammogram confirmed by three-year radiologic follow-up illustrates reader-marked regions of interest (ROIs) during (A) unaided (round 1) and (B) artificial intelligence (AI)–assisted (round 2) reading. Each colored dot represents an ROI for recall by a human reader. Readers could mark more than one ROI per case, represented by multiple dots of the same color. During AI-assisted reading, the AI system displayed three visible prompts: two with suspicion of malignancy scores of 35% (left mediolateral oblique [L MLO] and craniocaudal [L CC]) and one with a suspicion of malignancy score of 10% (right craniocaudal [R CC]), shown as polygonal overlays. Without AI, six of 10 readers (60%) marked a false-positive ROI. With AI assistance, this fell to two of 10 (20%). R MLO = right mediolateral oblique.](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/07/2026-07-14-radiology-mammogram-ai-auto-bias.H0bYO8QlWs.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
