The Six New ABA Codes Have Numbers. 97155's Old Job Now Spans Two Codes.

On August 24 we told you the six new adaptive behavior codes were placeholders — 97X1X through 97X6X — and that any 2027 crosswalk on sale was a crosswalk of placeholders. That's over. The AMA released the CPT 2027 code set on September 9, and the ABA Coding Coalition has posted the numbers. They take effect January 1, 2027.

The six new codes

• 97148 — behavior identification-supporting assessment of harmful behavior, per 15 minutes of technician time, delivered by 2 technicians, for a patient who exhibits harmful behavior, in an environment customized to that behavior. +97149 adds each additional technician, reporting the time of the 3rd through 5th.
• 97159 — adaptive behavior treatment of harmful behavior, with the same three components. +97160 adds each additional technician.
• 97173 — adaptive behavior treatment with analysis, administered by the physician or other QHP, face-to-face with one patient.
• 97180 — non-face-to-face services personally performed by the QHP: data and session-note review, decisions to modify targets or protocols, assessment planning, discharge or transition planning, and training technicians on revised protocols.

0362T and 0373T don't appear. They're deleted January 1, and 97148/97149 and 97159/97160 are the harmful-behavior codes the Coalition's application built to replace them.

The turn: 97155 gets narrower

Today's 97155 is “adaptive behavior treatment with protocol modification, administered by physician or other qualified healthcare professional, which may include simultaneous direction of technician.” From January 1 it reads “adaptive behavior direction of technician and analysis.”

Treatment the analyst delivers personally, with no technician to direct, now has its own code in 97173. On the descriptors as posted, that's the split most likely to change what a BCBA's day bills to. It's also the change a payer contract that lists codes by number won't contain.

97156, 97157 and 97158 keep their numbers but now read “with analysis.”

The limits

These are descriptors, not the full guidelines, which sit in the AMA's copyrighted CPT book. Notably, 0362T and 0373T required the QHP to be on site; the posted descriptors for 97148 and 97159 don't say, and the guidelines may. The Coalition's page also repeats “Use 97149 in conjunction with 97148” under 97160, which looks like a copy error, so confirm that pairing before you build it. One state association's notice gave January 1, 2028; the AMA and the Coalition both say 2027. And a code's existence isn't a rate. The CY2027 Medicare fee schedule final rule is due in November, and every Medicaid and commercial payer prices these separately.

What you must know or do

• Billers and EHR teams: register for the ABAI webinar on September 21, 1:00–2:30 p.m. ET. It's the Coalition's session for providers, billers and EMR vendors. The APBA session for providers is September 28, 3:00–4:30 p.m. ET.
• Clinical directors: sample a week of 97155 notes. Sort them into sessions where the analyst directed a technician and sessions where the analyst delivered treatment alone. On the posted descriptors, the second pile is 97173 from January 1.
• Owners: pull every authorization that runs past December 31 and names 97155, 0362T or 0373T. Ask each payer in writing how those units convert on January 1.
• Find your contracts that list 97151–97158 by number. None of them contains 97148, 97149, 97159, 97160, 97173 or 97180, so each needs an amendment or a rate letter before you bill them.