92507 Is Going Away. ABA Companies That Offer Speech Therapy Need to Prepare

What Changes on January 1, 2027

The code speech-language pathologists (SLPs) have billed for individual treatment for decades is being phased out. At its September 24 to 26, 2025 meeting, the CPT (Current Procedural Terminology, the medical billing code system) Editorial Panel of the AMA approved the deletion of CPT 92507. This untimed code covered any mix of individual speech, language, voice, communication, and auditory processing treatment. In its place, the panel approved 10 disorder-specific, time-based codes, effective January 1, 2027.

During its April 30th to May 2nd, 2026 meeting, a formal request to keep the code was submitted. The deletion, however, stands. The AMA’s official Summary of Panel Actions lists the item, “Speech Language Treatment Services 92507,” as rejected.

The replacements split one code into four disorder-area pairs (fluency, speech sound production, language, and voice) plus two codes for instrumentation-based voice treatment. Each pair includes a base code for the first 30 minutes and an add-on code for each additional 15 minutes. The new names for each of these codes will come out in September.

For 2026, nothing changes. 92507 remains valid and billable through December 31.

The New Rules Versus the Old Code

The old code was one unit per session, regardless of session length, under one descriptor broad enough to cover any mix of speech, language, voice, communication, or auditory processing work. It has been valued at 1.30 work relative value units (RVUs) based on a typical 60-minute session, a valuation that has not been meaningfully updated in over 15 years. SLPs bill it across settings, from private practice and outpatient clinics to hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health.

Under the new codes, time becomes the unit of service. The codes are expected to follow the standard midpoint rule, meaning a clinician would need to spend at least 16 minutes on a disorder area to bill its base code, and a session covering two disorder areas would need to hit that minimum in each before both base codes could be billed. Coral Care’s explainer calls those mechanics a strong expectation rather than settled guidance until CMS finalizes the codes. The practical edge is sharp either way: sessions under roughly 16 minutes on a single disorder area may not be billable at all, and the single-session, single-code model is gone.

Two services from the old descriptor did not survive the rewrite. None of the 10 new codes cover “communication” or “auditory processing disorder” (APD), services 92507 explicitly named. A follow-up code change application has been filed on the APD gap, and clinicians who treat APD have no settled billing pathway for 2027.

CMS requested a high-volume growth screen after Medicare utilization of 92507 grew more than 100% between 2017 and 2022. Some payers flagged “potential overutilization and atypical billing patterns” as the reason.

Why the Change Matters

The money question is open. CMS released the CY 2027 Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule on July 14, and the American Academy of Audiology’s summary notes it cuts the conversion factor about 1.7% for clinicians outside alternative payment models, to $32.84, as a temporary 2026 boost expires. Proposed dollar values for the 10 new codes were not published; final values land in the November 2026 final rule. Comments are due September 14.

The same rule carries a quieter signal: a request for information questioning the role of the AMA’s CPT and RUC system in Medicare payment altogether. It is a reminder that the machinery that just rewrote SLP billing is itself under review.

Documentation is the other operational change. A timed code set turns minute-level records into both the payment basis and the audit target. The preparation advice across sources converges: log minutes per disorder area now; audit caseloads for sessions running under 16 minutes in a single area; confirm billing vendors will be ready; and review any payer contract that names 92507.

There is also a trust problem. On August 7, 2025, ASHA told members that 92507 was “not being deleted, replaced, or changed today,” and not “anytime soon.” The panel approved the deletion roughly 7 weeks later. ASHA has said AMA confidentiality rules limit its communication, and it ran a member valuation survey in October 2025 as part of the review.

Whether any party requested reconsideration after the May rejection is not shown in the published AMA summary; the deadline was May 29. The dates that remain are fixed: final code numbers publish with CPT 2027 in September 2026, CMS sets payment in November 2026, and on January 1, 2027, the 10 timed codes go live.

AT A GLANCE

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