Billing for therapeutic apheresis

Therapeutic apheresis treats a variety of disorders by modifying or selectively removing agents from the blood and returning that blood to the patient. These services are appropriately described by CPT codes 36515 , Therapeutic apheresis; with extracorporeal immunoadsorption and plasma reinfusion, 36516 , Therapeutic apheresis; with extracorporeal selective adsorption or selective filtration and plasma reinfusion, and 36522 , Photopheresis, extracorporeal. Hospitals should report the CPT codes 36515 , 36516 , and 36522 that most accurately describe the service that is provided. CMS has provided additional billing instruction for these codes as follows: When billing CPT code 36515 to report extracorporeal immunoadsorption treatment and plasma...

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Note:  The following article synopsis was NOT provided by the AHA. It was created by Find-A-Code/innoviHealth.

Article Overview

This article covers therapeutic apheresis billing in the hospital outpatient setting, with emphasis on CPT-based service reporting and CMS guidance on how associated supply charges may be handled. It is relevant to hospital coders, billing staff, and compliance teams who need a general understanding of how these services are categorized and packaged for payment.

Why This Topic Matters

Accurate reporting of therapeutic apheresis affects outpatient hospital billing, charge capture, and compliance with CMS payment packaging guidance.

Article Sections

  1. Therapeutic apheresis overview

    Introduces the general clinical concept of therapeutic apheresis and the types of blood-processing services addressed in the article.

  2. CPT reporting and CMS billing guidance

    Summarizes the CPT-based reporting approach discussed in the article and the related CMS billing guidance for hospital supply charges and OPPS packaging.

What You Will Learn

  • How therapeutic apheresis services are discussed in relation to CPT reporting
  • What broad CMS billing considerations apply to hospital outpatient apheresis services
  • How the article frames supply charges and packaging under OPPS
  • Which organizations and billing context the guidance is associated with

Who Should Read This

  • Hospital coders
  • Outpatient hospital billers
  • Revenue cycle staff
  • Compliance professionals
  • Coding educators

Codes Discussed


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