A federal coding system used to identify medical services and supplies provided to Medicare patients. Pronounced “hick-picks”, this coding system includes the Physicians Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes copyrighted by the American Medical Association, as well as additional codes to include services and supplies not covered by the CPT codes. While all CPT codes are numeric only (five digits), HCPCS use the format of one letter followed by four digits. Letters A-V are reserved for nation¬ wide use, while letters W-Z are available to local Medicare carriers. Some alphanumeric code examples are A0010 for an ambulance ride, A4927 for gloves, A9300 for exercise equipment, D7130 for a tooth root removal, G0008 for a flu shot (“Admin influenza virus vac”), P9610 for collecting a urine specimen, and V2020 for a pair of glasses (no kidding).