CPT® licensing frequently asked questions (FAQs)

The Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) code set, created and maintained by the American Medical Association (AMA), is the language of medicine today and the code to its future. This system of terminology is the most widely accepted medical nomenclature used to report medical procedures and services under public and private health insurance programs in the United States.

CPT coding is also used for administrative management purposes such as claims processing and developing guidelines for medical care review. Each year, via a rigorous, evidence-based and transparent process, the independent CPT Editorial Panel revises, creates or deletes hundreds of codes in order to reflect current medical practice. CPT is copyrighted by the AMA and as such must be licensed to be used in electronic products or other forms.

If your organization uses, references or displays CPT content, your organization is expected to obtain the appropriate license for your use case. Any entity using CPT content anywhere worldwide must have a license authorizing the use of CPT code set from the AMA or an authorized distributor.

 Examples of when a license and royalty payment are required (not an exhaustive list):

• Use of CPT content to develop, test, maintain and service products that use or rely on CPT
• Use of CPT content in products that are licensed or distributed by a vendor, company or other third party
• Distribution of products that require use of CPT content
• Any proposed use of CPT content including the creation of derivative works of CPT content, translations or localized versions of CPT content 

Organizations license CPT content from the AMA directly or through a vendor. Check with staff in your organization or with the software vendor where you use CPT content to determine if you are already licensed for your use case. You may also submit a request to the AMA to determine if your organization is licensed. 

The AMA holds the copyright to the CPT code set and related derivative products. CPT content is copyrighted, maintained and published by the AMA. Any individual or entity using CPT content needs permission or a license (i.e., an end-user agreement, end user license agreement, or other written agreement authorizing use of CPT codes) from the AMA or an authorized distributor.

CPT Professional Edition or other CPT related codebooks are for reference only. They do not provide the purchaser with the ability to use the CPT codes in an electronic product nor may they be copied or transmitted. Please refer to the front portion of CPT Professional Edition regarding these restrictions.

A license for anything other than the CPT Standard Data File, which contains the CPT code set, is not a license for CPT.

AMA offers several types of licenses depending on your organization and CPT utilization.

• Private license for internal use (hospitals, clinics, insurance, payers, etc.):   An organization may license CPT content from an AMA-authorized distributor to allow utilization of CPT content in connection with a specified product within their organization.
• Distributor license for health technology organizations who utilize CPT content within their products/solutions: The AMA or our distributors license many organizations to use CPT content in a broad array of health technology applications. Organizations across the globe must have a license for each product that contains CPT codes. You may also submit a request to ask an AMA CPT licensing specialist to determine the appropriate type of CPT license for your use.

You can submit a licensing application and contact an AMA CPT licensing specialist. Certain use cases can utilize a self-service licensing application. At this time, organizations eligible for this channel are notified with instructions. 

CPT users have always been required to have a CPT license.

At this time, you cannot change a license through the AMA Intelligent Platform Royalties Portal. Please contact your AMA account representative or submit a help request to an AMA CPT licensing specialist to discuss your interest in new products.

The AMA strives to develop licensing models that are fair, transparent, consistent and easy to apply. The AMA applies different pricing models to determine the applicable royalty. The AMA applies royalties for the use of CPT codes and descriptors based on the type of product in which the CPT content is used and the type of user of the product.

If you have a question or would like to license CPT content, please submit your information.