AMA Panel Creates Category I CPT Codes for Renal Denervation

October 1, 2026—The American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Editorial Panel has created two category I CPT codes describing renal denervation (RDN). The codes will become effective January 1, 2028.

Separately announced by Medtronic and Recor Medical, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Otsuka Medical Devices Co., Ltd., the AMA category I CPT codes affect the companies’ respective RDN devices for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension: the Medtronic Symplicity Spyral RDN system and the Recor Paradise ultrasound RDN system.

As noted in Recor Medical’s press release, the new codes—37X47 and 37X48—describe percutaneous transcatheter renal sympathetic denervation procedures.

Final code numbers and descriptors will be published by the AMA in advance of implementation, stated Recor.

“Standardized category I CPT coding will support the integration of RDN into clinical practice by enabling consistent procedural reporting and creating a pathway for physician payment,” commented Tai Kobayashi, MD, in Recor Medical’s press release. Dr. Kobayashi is Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Medtronic press release stated that the category I CPT codes are permanent codes assigned to procedures that the AMA has determined are well established, widely performed by physicians across the United States, and supported by robust clinical evidence, in addition to other criteria identified in the application process.

A category I CPT code can help support physician payment and inform commercial payer coverage decisions, but it does not determine coverage, reimbursement, clinical superiority, or patient access, advised Medtronic.

Both the Medtronic Symplicity Spyral RDN system and the Recor Paradise ultrasound RDN system were approved by the FDA and launched in the United States in November 2023.

In October 2025, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the final National Coverage Determination on RDN applicable to the Symplicity Spyral and Recor Paradise systems for the treatment of uncontrolled hypertension in Medicare patients.