CPT 36015 Selective Pulmonary Angiography Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 36015: Selective Pulmonary Artery Catheterization for Angiography

CPT code 36015 denotes selective placement of a catheter in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery to perform pulmonary angiography. This procedure is a targeted diagnostic vascular study that visualizes pulmonary arterial branches using radiopaque contrast and fluoroscopy; it is an important tool for diagnosing conditions such as pulmonary embolism, vascular malformations, and other pulmonary vascular pathologies. Nationally, this code represents specialized interventional radiology practice with implications for billing, imaging resource use, and inpatient/outpatient workflow.

Key payers discussed include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. The publication provides a concise overview of clinical context, typical settings for service delivery, and what stakeholders need to know about coding and billing considerations for selective pulmonary arterial catheterization.

Readers will find: a clinical description of the service and when it is used; benchmarks and coverage considerations across major payers where available; common billing and documentation points to support claim submission; and links to related interventional radiology and vascular procedure contexts. Data not available in the input is noted where payer- or policy-specific details are not provided.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicare36015CPTpulmonary angiographyinterventional radiologycatheterizationdiagnostic imagingvascular procedurehospital services

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 36015 describes the selective placement of a catheter in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery for the purpose of performing an angiography. Angiography is an X‑ray study of the blood vessels that uses a radiopaque contrast agent to visualize vascular anatomy and identify abnormalities such as stenosis, emboli, or malformations.

Service type: Selective pulmonary arterial catheterization for diagnostic angiography
Typical site of service: Hospital radiology or catheterization laboratory; may also be performed in inpatient or outpatient interventional suites where fluoroscopic imaging and contrast administration are available.

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A 64-year-old male with sudden onset pleuritic chest pain and unexplained hypoxemia is admitted from the emergency department. CT pulmonary angiography is inconclusive due to renal insufficiency and contrast allergy. The pulmonary medicine and interventional radiology teams collaborate to evaluate for pulmonary embolism and pulmonary vascular abnormalities. After informed consent, the patient undergoes diagnostic catheter-directed pulmonary angiography with selective placement of a catheter into segmental and subsegmental pulmonary arteries to visualize branch vessels using iodinated contrast under fluoroscopy. The typical clinical workflow includes pre-procedure assessment (coagulation status, renal function, allergy review), vascular access (commonly right femoral or internal jugular venous access), catheter navigation into the main pulmonary artery and selective advancement into segmental/subsegmental branches, injection of radiopaque contrast to obtain angiographic images, interpretation by the performing physician, hemostasis and post-procedure monitoring for bleeding and cardiopulmonary complications. This procedure is performed in an angiography suite or interventional radiology lab with continuous hemodynamic and oxygenation monitoring.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`26`	Professional component	When reporting only the physician interpretation of diagnostic images separate from technical services (rare for angiography billing split).

CPT 36005: Extremity Venography with Contrast Injection

CPT-36000-VENOUS-ACCESS-NEEDLE-OR-INTRACATHETER-INSERTION

CPT 36000: Venous Access — Needle or Intracatheter Insertion

CPT-36012-SELECTIVE-CATHETERIZATION-SECOND-ORDER-VENOUS-BRANCH

CPT 36012: Selective Catheterization of Second-Order Venous Branch

CPT-36014-SELECTIVE-PULMONARY-ARTERY-ANGIOGRAPHY-CATHETER-PLACEMENT

CPT 36014: Selective Pulmonary Artery Angiography

CPT-36013-RIGHT-HEART-MAIN-PULMONARY-ARTERY-CATHETER-INTRODUCTION-ANGIOGRAPHY

CPT 36013: Right Heart/Main Pulmonary Artery Catheter Introduction for Angiography

CPT-36011-FIRST-ORDER-BRANCH-VEIN-CATHETER-PLACEMENT

CPT 36011: First-Order Branch Vein Catheter Placement, Diagnostic/Therapeutic

CPT-36010-CENTRAL-VENOUS-CATHETERIZATION-CAVA-ANGIOGRAPHY-ANGIOPLASTY

CPT 36010: Central Venous Catheterization for Cardiac Angiography/Angioplasty

CPT-36002-PSEUDOANEURYSM-THROMBOTIC-INJECTION-UPPER-OR-LOWER-EXTREMITY

CPT 36002: Injection of Thrombotic Agent into Arm or Leg Pseudoaneurysm

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
207RH0000X	Radiology - Diagnostic	Interventional radiologists commonly perform pulmonary angiography.
2084P0800X	Pulmonary Disease	Pulmonologists with procedural training may request or interpret results and perform related interventions in some centers.
2086S0126X	Thoracic Surgery	Thoracic surgeons may be involved when surgical correlation or combined procedures are required.
207L00000X	Diagnostic Radiology	Diagnostic radiologists involved in image interpretation and support.
282N00000X	Emergency Medicine	Emergency physicians initiate the diagnostic pathway and coordinate urgent angiographic studies when indicated.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`I26.99`	Other pulmonary embolism without acute cor pulmonale	Pulmonary angiography is used to visualize emboli when noninvasive imaging is inconclusive or contraindicated.
`I26.09`	Other pulmonary embolism with acute cor pulmonale	Selective pulmonary angiography can define clot burden and guide intervention when right heart strain is present.
`I26.01`	Septic pulmonary embolism with cor pulmonale	Angiography may identify infected emboli or vascular lesions in complex infections.
`I27.2`	Other secondary pulmonary hypertension	Angiographic evaluation can assess pulmonary vasculature when thromboembolic disease is suspected.
`I27.0`	Pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease	Selective angiography may be part of hemodynamic and anatomic assessment in complex cases.
`R09.2`	Respiratory arrest	In unstable respiratory conditions where diagnosis of vascular cause is required, angiography can be performed emergently.
`R09.3`	Abnormal sputum	When infective embolic processes or vascular sources of hemoptysis are suspected, pulmonary angiography aids localization.
`R06.0`	Dyspnea, unspecified	Dyspnea with high suspicion for pulmonary embolism may lead to selective pulmonary angiography when other tests are equivocal.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`36010`	Introduction of catheter, vena cava, diagnostic, radiological supervision and interpretation	May be performed when obtaining central venous access for pulmonary angiography or vascular access in the venous system.
`36245`	Selective catheter placement, each first order thoracic, neck or upper extremity branch, within the arterial system, with angiography	Used in arterial selective catheterizations; listed for contextual comparison though arterial codes differ from pulmonary venous/arterial catheterization.
`93503`	Right heart catheterization including measurement(s) of oxygen saturation and cardiac output when performed; with diagnostic thoracic angiography when performed	Often performed concurrently to assess hemodynamics during pulmonary angiography.
`36016`	Introduction of catheter, pulmonary artery, diagnostic, radiological supervision and interpretation (non-selective)	Related pulmonary artery catheterization codes for main pulmonary artery or non-selective angiography performed in the same session.
`75726`	Angiography, pulmonary, bilateral, nonselective catheterization only with diagnostic radiological supervision and interpretation	Alternative pulmonary angiography codes for nonselective studies or bilateral injections; may be billed in related diagnostic workflows.

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