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Practice manager's guide · updated October 2026
The telephone E/M codes were deleted for 2025. Here's what replaced them, old code to new code, what Medicare pays in 2026, and the documentation an after-hours call needs to be billable.
Short answer
CPT 99441, 99442 and 99443 (telephone E/M with an established patient: 5-10, 11-20 and 21-30 minutes of medical discussion) were deleted for 2025. CMS's CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, effective January 1, 2025, reflects the deletion. Audio-only visits are now reported with 98008-98011 (new patient) or 98012-98015 (established patient), each requiring more than 10 minutes of medical discussion, and 98016 covers a 5-10 minute brief virtual check-in. Medicare pays 98016 but not 98000-98015; for Medicare patients, use office/outpatient E/M codes under its telehealth rules, with modifier 93 when audio-only.
Sources: CMS CY 2025 PFS final rule, 89 FR 97789-97794 · CMS, 85 FR 27550 (99441-99443 descriptors)
The CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule final rule left these codes where the 2025 rule put them. CMS kept 98000-98015at status indicator I (not valid for Medicare) and declined a request to add them to the Medicare Telehealth Services List, because codes Medicare does not pay in person can't be paid as telehealth either. So for 2026: 99441-99443 stay deleted, 98016 is still the payable brief check-in code, and Medicare audio-only visits still go on office/outpatient E/M codes under its telehealth rules, which allow real-time audio-only for a patient at home.
| Deleted code | Report now (CPT) | Medicare |
|---|---|---|
| 99441 5-10 min of medical discussion | 98016 brief virtual check-in (established patient, 5-10 min), if its 7-day / 24-hour conditions are met. Too short for 98008-98015. | 98016, paid in place of G2012 |
| 99442 11-20 min of medical discussion | 98012-98015 (established) or 98008-98011 (new), level by MDM or total time | 98000-98015 not paid. Office/outpatient E/M (99202-99205, 99212-99215) under Medicare telehealth rules; modifier 93 for audio-only |
| 99443 21-30 min of medical discussion | 98012-98015 (established) or 98008-98011 (new), level by MDM or total time |
The new codes are not time-for-time swaps: they are leveled like office E/M, not by call length. Descriptors per the CMS CY 2025 PFS final rule; audio-only telehealth and modifier 93 per CMS MLN MM13887.
What changed
For 2025, the CPT Editorial Panel deleted the time-tiered telephone codes (99441: 5-10 minutes, 99442: 11-20, 99443: 21-30) and added a telemedicine E/M subsection: 98000-98007 for audio-video, 98008-98015 for audio-only, and 98016 for a brief virtual check-in. The audio-only replacements:
| Code(s) | What it covers | Key requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 98008-98011 | Audio-only E/M, new patient (four levels) | Level by MDM or total time (15 / 30 / 45 / 60 min met or exceeded), plus more than 10 minutes of medical discussion |
| 98012-98015 | Audio-only E/M, established patient (four levels) | MDM or total time (more than 10 min, then 20 / 30 / 40 min met or exceeded), with the same 10-minute discussion floor |
| 98016 | Brief virtual check-in, established patient, 5-10 minutes | Replaced G2012; the one new code Medicare pays |
Medicare note: CMS finalized not paying separately for 98000-98015. The rule points Medicare telehealth visits to the existing office/outpatient E/M codes on the Medicare telehealth list, billed with the patient's place-of-service code and, for audio-only, modifier 93. 98016 is paid in place of G2012. Other payers set their own policies. The practical rule: confirm each payer's policy before standardizing a workflow.
Billing starts with knowing which calls reached a clinician at all. Deciding which calls go to the physician is telephone triage, and it has its own scope-of-practice rules. Terms like E/M, MDM and on-call escalation are defined in the answering service glossary.
Documentation
When Lydoh, an AI medical answering service, escalates an urgent after-hours call to your on-call provider, it records the provider-to-patient talk time from the moment they accept to the end of the call, alongside a timestamped log of every provider contacted. The billing CSV hands your biller the date of service in your timezone, the callback number, the provider reached, and talk time in both m:ss and decimal minutes. Your biller picks the code; the documentation is already there.
FAQ
There is no one-to-one replacement. 99442 (a telephone E/M visit with an established patient, 11-20 minutes of medical discussion) was deleted for 2025. Audio-only E/M visits are now reported with 98012-98015 for established patients or 98008-98011 for new patients, leveled by medical decision making or total time, and each requires more than 10 minutes of medical discussion. Medicare does not pay those codes: for Medicare patients, the visit goes on the regular office/outpatient E/M code under Medicare's telehealth rules, with modifier 93 when it is audio-only.
No. The CPT Editorial Panel deleted 99441, 99442, and 99443, and CMS's CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, effective January 1, 2025, reflects the deletion. For dates of service in 2025 and later, telephone (audio-only) E/M visits are reported with the 98000-series telemedicine codes, or, for Medicare, with office/outpatient E/M codes under its telehealth rules.
99441 covered 5-10 minutes of medical discussion with an established patient. That is too short for the audio-only E/M codes, which require more than 10 minutes. The closest code is 98016, a brief virtual check-in with an established patient (5-10 minutes of medical discussion) that does not originate from a related E/M service in the previous 7 days or lead to one within the next 24 hours or soonest available appointment. 98016 replaced HCPCS G2012, and Medicare pays it.
99443 covered 21-30 minutes of medical discussion with an established patient. It was deleted for 2025 along with 99441 and 99442. Report the call with an audio-only E/M code, 98012-98015 for an established patient or 98008-98011 for a new one, selected by medical decision making or total time on the date of the encounter. For Medicare patients, use the office/outpatient E/M code (99212-99215 for established patients) under Medicare's telehealth rules, with modifier 93 for audio-only.
The CPT Editorial Panel deleted 99441-99443 effective January 1, 2025, when the CPT 2025 telemedicine E/M subsection (98000-98016) took effect. CMS's CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule final rule notes the deletion and that the three codes, which had provisional status on the Medicare telehealth list, would return to bundled status when the telehealth flexibilities expired on December 31, 2024. Telephone visits on or after January 1, 2025 should not be billed with 99441, 99442 or 99443.
Not for these codes. CMS's CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule final rule kept 98000-98015 at status indicator I (not valid for Medicare) and declined a request to add them to the Medicare Telehealth Services List, so in 2026 Medicare still does not pay them separately. 99441-99443 remain deleted, and 98016 remains the payable brief virtual check-in code. For Medicare patients, audio-only visits still go on office/outpatient E/M codes under Medicare's telehealth rules.
No. The deleted codes were tiered by minutes of medical discussion (5-10, 11-20, 21-30). The replacements are leveled like office E/M visits, by medical decision making or total time, with a floor of more than 10 minutes of medical discussion for 98008-98015. A 99442 or 99443 call maps to one of the four audio-only levels depending on its MDM or total time; a short 99441-style call usually only fits 98016, if its 7-day and 24-hour conditions are met.
The new audio-only codes (98008-98015) are leveled like office E/M: you select the level by medical decision making or total time, with one extra floor: the encounter must include more than 10 minutes of real-time medical discussion. For a short call that doesn't meet that threshold, 98016 (brief communication technology-based service, 5-10 minutes) is the closest fit for established patients.
Only one of them. In its CY 2025 final rule, CMS decided not to pay separately for 98000-98015 and to pay 98016 in lieu of HCPCS G2012. For Medicare patients, CMS points to the existing office/outpatient E/M codes on the Medicare telehealth list, billed with the place-of-service code for where the patient is and, for audio-only visits, modifier 93. Other payers set their own policies, so confirm with each payer before you build billing workflows around a code.
At minimum: patient identity and consent to a telephone visit, the date and start/end times (or total minutes of medical discussion), who conducted the call, the reason for the call, the assessment and plan, and any bundling checks your payer requires, such as whether the call relates to a recent or upcoming in-person visit. Time-based selection lives or dies on documented minutes.
When Lydoh escalates an urgent after-hours call, it records who was reached and the provider-to-patient talk time, measured from the moment your provider accepts to the end of the call, with every attempt timestamped. The billing CSV export gives your biller the date in your practice's timezone, the callback number, the provider reached, and talk time in both m:ss and decimal minutes. Lydoh documents the encounter; your biller selects the code.
Primary sources: CMS CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule final rule (90 FR 49266) · CMS CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule final rule (89 FR 97710) · CMS MLN MM13887, CY 2025 PFS final rule summary · CMS interim final rule, 85 FR 27550 (99441-99443 descriptors)
Further reading: SMFM on the 2025 telehealth CPT codes · MedCentral on the CPT 2025 telemedicine overhaul
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