2025 CPT code 76987
(New) Effective Date: N/A Radiology - Diagnostic Ultrasound Procedures Radiology Feed
Intraoperative epicardial cardiac ultrasound for congenital heart disease; complete service including transducer placement, image acquisition, interpretation, and report.
Modifiers 26 (professional component), 52 (reduced services), and TC (technical component) may apply depending on the specific circumstances. Refer to the official CPT codebook for details on modifier usage.
Intraoperative echocardiography is medically necessary when real-time assessment of cardiac structure and function is crucial during a cardiac surgical procedure.This helps guide the surgeon, allows for immediate adjustments as needed, and improves the overall outcome of the surgery by minimizing complications.
The physician or qualified healthcare professional is responsible for placing the ultrasound probe (transducer) in a sterile sheath, applying sterile gel or saline, positioning the probe on the heart's surface, manipulating the transducer to acquire images, interpreting the images, and creating a detailed report of the findings.This requires expertise in both ultrasound and cardiology.
In simple words: During heart surgery, the doctor uses ultrasound to take pictures of the baby's heart to check for birth defects.This code covers everything: placing the ultrasound device, taking the images, interpreting them, and writing a report.
This CPT code encompasses the complete diagnostic intraoperative epicardial cardiac ultrasound procedure for congenital heart disease.The procedure includes transducer placement and manipulation, image acquisition, interpretation of the acquired images, and generation of a comprehensive report documenting the findings. The physician or qualified healthcare professional performs all aspects of the procedure.
Example 1: A neonate undergoes open heart surgery for Tetralogy of Fallot repair. During the procedure, intraoperative echocardiography using code 76987 is performed to assess the completeness of the repair and ventricular function., A child with a suspected transposition of the great arteries undergoes a cardiac catheterization.During the catheterization, code 76987 is used to obtain real-time images of the heart to guide catheter placement and evaluate the anatomy., A patient with a history of congenital heart disease requires a valve replacement. Intraoperative echocardiography (code 76987) is used to assess valve function, placement, and the effect on hemodynamics.
The documentation should include the patient's medical history, details of the surgical procedure, images acquired during the intraoperative ultrasound, detailed descriptions of the images, the interpretation of findings, and a final report summarizing the results.The report must be permanently recorded.
** This code is specific to intraoperative echocardiography during cardiac surgery for congenital heart disease.It is crucial to select the appropriate code (76987, 76988, or 76989) based on which components of the procedure were performed by the reporting professional.
- Revenue Code: I3C (ECHOGRAPHY - HEART)
- Payment Status: Active
- Modifier TC rule: Modifier TC (technical component) may be applicable depending on the billing arrangement.
- Specialties:Cardiothoracic Surgery, Cardiology, Pediatric Cardiology
- Place of Service:Inpatient Hospital, Ambulatory Surgical Center