CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Medical Association (AMA) announced an agreement with the National Library of Medicine that will enhance the National Institutes of Health's Genetic Testing Registry, a centralized public source for information on genetic tests.

Under the agreement, Current Procedural Terminology (CPT(R)) codes for molecular pathology tests will be integrated into the publicly available Genetic Testing Registry (GTR), which is managed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a division of the National Library of Medicine at NIH. The AMA-created CPT codes describe the latest advances in genetic testing and molecular diagnostic services for reporting and tracking purposes.

"Incorporating these CPT codes into GTR will help clinicians pinpoint practical information about genetics in a centralized resource," said GTR Director Wendy Rubinstein, M.D., Ph.D.

"CPT codes are a critical element to building an infrastructure that supports moving new genetic discoveries to the front lines of clinical care as we move into an era of personalized medicine," said AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, M.D. "Adding a CPT coding reference to the Genetic Testing Registry gives physicians an invaluable information source that will enhance the reporting of genetic tests and services."

The AMA has been involved with coding solutions for molecular pathology services since 1998. New, more detailed CPT codes for molecular pathology became effective in 2012 to capture and describe the latest scientific advances in this rapidly expanding field of medicine. The ongoing process has so far created more than 100 codes for reporting innovative diagnostic services, and advances the AMA's overarching goal of reducing disease burdens, improving health outcomes and reducing long-term care costs.

Media Contact: Robert J. Mills AMA Media Relations (312) 464-5970 robert.mills@ama-assn.org

About the American Medical Association (AMA)

The American Medical Association helps doctors help patients by uniting physicians nationwide to work on the most important professional, public health and health policy issues. The nation's largest physician organization plays a leading role in shaping the future of medicine. For more information on the AMA, please visit http://www.ama-assn.org.

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AMA Enhances Genetic Testing Registry

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