The Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (or HCPCS, pronounced like "hick pics") is a two level coding system mandated by CMS for use in medical billings transactions. The first "level" of HCPCS is the Current Procedural Terminology or CPT. CPT is a code set maintained and owned by the American Medical Association. Level II of HCPCS includes additional codes that are required for billing Medicare that are not included in CPT codes. <br> <br> Generally CPT codes are a controversial topic because they are mandated for us in medical billing applications in the United States by CMS, but they are owned and maintained by the AMA. This mandate allows AMA to charge substantial dollars for licensing CPT codes, and the AMA now makes more money on licensing fees than it does in membership dues. <br> <br> Daniel Palestrant, MD Founder of Sermo, wrote a famous blog post criticizing the AMA and the CPT code problem. (<a href='http://web.archive.org/web/20120220023154/http://www.sermo.com/blog/2009/07/17/cpt-why-physicians-always-get-screwed-thanks-ama'>wayback machine link</a>)