ABA CPT Codes: The Full List and the 2027 Changes

The AMA's September 2025 Summary of Panel Actions records the change as accepted: six codes added for reporting adaptive behavior services (listed there under the placeholders 97X1X to 97X6X), revised guidelines, revised codes 97151 to 97158, and deletion of 0362T and 0373T, effective January 2027. The summary also says codes are not assigned, and exact wording is not final, until just before publication. The AMA released the CPT 2027 code set on September 9, 2026, effective January 1.

The ABA Coding Coalition, which filed the code change application with the ABAI ABA Billing Codes Commission, then published the final numbers and descriptors on its billing codes page and in a 2027 crosswalk dated September 11, 2026. The table below is built from those coalition documents as read on October 18, 2026. The AMA press release does not list individual codes, so the code numbers here are the coalition's.

All of 97151 to 97158 are revised. The coalition's 2027 supplemental guidance says the term "protocol modification" is replaced with "analysis" in every code a QHP administers. Analysis means the QHP watches the client's or caregiver's responses and decides whether targets or protocols need to change; the guidance says a change is not required to report the code, but the analysis must be documented in the session note, and it cannot be done by a technician.

The biggest practical change is 97155. In 2027 it describes the QHP directing a technician, with analysis, face-to-face with the client. The coalition guidance says 97155 is no longer a dual-use code: when the QHP treats the client directly without a technician, the service is 97173. The technician codes 97152, 97153 and 97154 lose the phrase "under the direction of a physician or other qualified health care professional", and 97156, 97157 and 97158 become guidance or treatment "with analysis".

This crosswalk follows the ABA Coding Coalition's 2027 code conversion table. Authorizations written for 2026 may need new lines for 97173 and 97180, and the coalition's sample authorization splits 2026 97155 units into 97155 for direction of a technician and 97173 for direct QHP treatment.

The code descriptors name two kinds of staff: a physician or other QHP, and a technician. The coalition's crosswalk defines a QHP as a licensed behavior analyst, licensed assistant behavior analyst, BCBA-D, BCBA, BCaBA, or another credentialed professional whose scope of practice, training and competence include ABA. The BACB describes the BCBA as a graduate-level certification whose holders are independent practitioners, and the RBT as a paraprofessional certification whose holders practice under the direction and close supervision of an RBT Supervisor or RBT Requirements Coordinator.

In practice, that means a BCBA or other QHP delivers 97151, 97155, 97156, 97157 and 97158, plus 97173 and 97180 from 2027, while 97152, 97153 and 97154, plus 97148, 97149, 97159 and 97160 from 2027, are typically delivered by an RBT or other technician. The coalition's crosswalk notes that a QHP may substitute for the technician on 97153, and its 2027 guidance says a QHP who fills in for a technician without adding analysis reports 97153. Who may deliver and bill each code is set by state licensure law and each payer's policy, not by CPT alone. The coalition notes that 40 states and the District of Columbia have behavior analyst licensure laws, and that education-level modifiers such as HM, HN, HO and HP are commonly used with these codes. Payer rules vary, so check each contract.

The coalition groups the 2027 code set into three families:

• Assessment: 97151 (QHP), 97152 (technician), and 97148 with add-on 97149 (harmful behavior, two or more technicians).
• Non-face-to-face services: 97180 (QHP), new in 2027.
• Treatment: 97153 and 97154 (technician), 97159 with add-on 97160 (harmful behavior, two or more technicians), 97155 (QHP direction of a technician), 97173 (QHP treatment), 97156 and 97157 (caregiver guidance) and 97158 (QHP group treatment).

Every ABA code is timed in 15-minute increments. The coalition's 2027 guidance applies the CPT rule for timed codes: a unit may be reported once half the increment is met, so 8 to 22 minutes of direct service is one unit, and work lasting less than 8 minutes is not reportable. Payers can set their own unit rules, so check each policy. The 8-minute rule calculator explains the related unit methods used for Medicare therapy codes.

Two details are specific to the 2027 codes. For harmful-behavior treatment, 97159 already represents two technicians, so it is not doubled; time for a third, fourth or fifth technician goes on 97160 (or 97149 for assessment). And 97180 is summed across a seven-day week, such as Sunday to Saturday, and reported once for that week. The guidance also says 97180 does not include time spent writing session notes.

Each code's note has to show the elements of that code. The coalition's clinical examples are explicit that analysis, direction and the need for extra technicians must be documented. The individual code pages list more detail, and the ABA session note generator drafts the session note from what you type.

Coverage varies. The coalition's 2027 guidance says CMS added the 2019 adaptive behavior codes to its permanent Medicare telehealth list in 2026, but that telehealth coverage still depends on state law and each payer's policy. For the harmful-behavior codes, the coalition says the on-site QHP requirement may be met by telehealth when medically necessary and clinically appropriate, while noting that payer policies and laws vary. Check each payer's 2027 telehealth policy for the new codes before billing them, and see the telehealth modifiers guide for modifier and place of service basics.

Payers update their policies, fee schedules and authorizations on their own timelines, so there is no single switch-over date beyond the January 1, 2027 effective date. The coalition publishes a payer communication guide (October 2026), the 2027 crosswalk and the 2027 supplemental guidance on its resources page. Useful checks: which codes each payer will accept on and after January 1, whether open authorizations carry over or need new lines for 97173 and 97180, which modifiers the payer requires, and whether your note templates capture analysis and direction for 97155 and 97173.