Summary & Overview
CPT 47142: Right Lobe Living-Donor Liver Harvest
CPT code 47142 designates the surgical harvest of the right lobe of the liver from a living donor for use in a separately reportable transplant. This code captures a high-complexity, resource-intensive living-donor organ procurement procedure that has implications for transplant program reporting, intraoperative resource allocation, and payer coverage policy nationally. Coverage and payment practices for living-donor organ procurement vary by payer and influence transplant center financial planning and patient cost exposure.
Key payers covered in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise overview of the code’s clinical and billing definition, typical site-of-service expectations, commonly reported modifiers, and how major payers approach coverage for living-donor liver procurement. The publication also summarizes benchmarks relevant to hospital billing lines, notes common documentation elements needed to support claims, and highlights recent policy updates affecting organ procurement billing where applicable.
This briefing is intended for hospital billing leaders, transplant program administrators, and payer policy analysts seeking a clear, national-level reference on the clinical meaning and billing context of CPT code 47142.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 47142 describes a surgical procedure in which the provider harvests the right lobe of the liver from a living donor to be used in a separately reportable transplant into the recipient. This procedure is a living donor hepatectomy focused on removal of the right hepatic lobe for transplantation.
-
Service type: Surgical living-donor organ procurement
-
Typical site of service: Inpatient hospital surgical setting
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A healthy adult living donor is evaluated and selected to undergo surgical harvest of the right hepatic lobe for transplantation into a recipient with end‑stage liver disease. Preoperative workup includes blood type and HLA compatibility testing, liver volumetry with CT or MRI to confirm adequate remnant liver volume in the donor, cardiopulmonary clearance, infectious disease screening, and informed consent addressing donor risk. On the day of surgery the donor is admitted to an operating room with a multidisciplinary team (transplant surgeon, anesthesiologist, transplant coordinator, and critical care staff). The procedure consists of an open or sometimes laparoscopic-assisted right hepatectomy to procure the right lobe; hemostasis, biliary reconstruction or securement of biliary structures, and closure are completed. The procured graft is transported under sterile conditions for separate transplant into the recipient. Postoperative donor care includes monitoring in a surgical intensive care or step-down unit, pain control, liver function testing, and imaging to assess for complications such as bile leak, hemorrhage, or portal vein thrombosis. Typical length of stay ranges from several days to a week depending on complications and recovery. This service is a living donor right hepatectomy intended solely for graft procurement and is reported separately from the recipient transplant procedure.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
00 | No modifier used/standard reporting | Default when no specific modifier applies |