2025 CPT code 33948
(Active) Effective Date: N/A Surgery - Cardiovascular System Surgery Feed
Daily management of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or extracorporeal life support (ECLS).
Modifiers may be applicable. Common modifiers for this code include 22 (Increased Procedural Services), 52 (Reduced Services), and 79 (Unrelated Procedure or Service by the Same Physician During the Postoperative Period.
Medical necessity for ECMO/ECLS is established by the patient's life-threatening cardiopulmonary failure that is unresponsive to conventional therapies.
Following cannula insertion and placement of the patient on ECMO/ECLS, the physician performs daily assessments and care planning. This includes monitoring the ventilator, positional changes, endotracheal suctioning, and daily chest X-rays and lab tests. The physician monitors physical signs of perfusion, intravascular volume (including urine output and blood pressure), head ultrasounds, neurologic exams, hemoglobin, platelet levels, clotting times, signs of infection, fluid and electrolyte balance, and medication levels.
In simple words: The doctor manages the daily settings of a heart-lung bypass machine for a patient whose blood is circulated from and back to the veins. This helps patients with lung failure.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)/extracorporeal life support (ECLS) provided by physician; daily management, each day, veno-venous.This involves daily physician oversight to ensure that specific features of the interaction of the circuit with the patient are met. Daily management of the circuit and parameters includes management of blood flow, oxygenation, CO2 clearance by the membrane lung, systemic response, anticoagulation and treatment of bleeding, and cannula(e) positioning, alarms and safety.
Example 1: A premature infant with respiratory distress syndrome requires veno-venous ECMO. Code 33948 is used for each day the physician manages the ECMO circuit., An adult patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is placed on veno-venous ECMO. Code 33948 is reported daily for the physician's management of the ECMO circuit and parameters., A patient awaiting lung transplantation is placed on veno-venous ECMO as a bridge to transplant. The physician's daily management of the ECMO circuit is reported with 33948.
Daily physician notes documenting the management of the ECMO/ECLS circuit, including blood flow, oxygenation, CO2 clearance, systemic response, anticoagulation, bleeding, cannula positioning, alarms, and safety.
** Code 33948 is for the daily management of the ECMO/ECLS circuit and is separate from the overall daily management of the patient.The overall daily management may be reported using appropriate E/M codes.
- Revenue Code: P2F
- Payment Status: Active
- Specialties:Critical Care, Pulmonology, Neonatology,Cardiothoracic Surgery
- Place of Service:Inpatient Hospital