Summary & Overview
CPT 68371: Conjunctival Allograft Harvest
CPT code 68371 identifies the harvesting of a conjunctival allograft intended for transplantation into another patient. Nationally, this code matters for ophthalmic and tissue procurement programs, eye banks, and surgical practices that participate in allograft donation and transplantation. Proper coding ensures the activity is recorded for clinical and administrative tracking, supports appropriate billing workflows, and aligns with tissue banking and transplant regulations.
Key payers in the national landscape include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find an explanation of the clinical context for conjunctival allograft harvest, typical sites of service, and the types of stakeholders affected. The publication summarizes benchmarks and coverage considerations where available, highlights relevant documentation elements and coding practice implications, and outlines common modifiers used with similar surgical procedures. Where payer-specific policies are available, the briefing notes common prior authorization and billing patterns.
This summary is intended for providers, billing professionals, and administrators seeking a concise overview of CPT code 68371, its clinical purpose, and the payer environment that often governs reimbursement and coverage decisions.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 68371 describes a surgical procedure in which a provider harvests a conjunctival allograft for use on another patient. The service type is tissue procurement / allograft harvest. The typical site of service is an operating room or ambulatory surgical center where ocular tissue harvest procedures are performed.
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Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 45-year-old deceased donor is evaluated in the operating room after brain death determination. Ophthalmology staff obtain consent from the eye bank and the donor's next of kin for ocular tissue donation. During the coordinated tissue procurement procedure, an oculoplastic or corneal surgeon harvests a conjunctival allograft from the donor eye for use in a separate recipient with severe ocular surface disease. The harvested conjunctiva is placed in appropriate sterile transport medium and transferred to the eye bank for processing, testing, and allocation.
The clinical workflow includes donor eligibility verification, sterile preparation of the ocular adnexa, surgical harvest of conjunctival tissue under magnification, labeling and documentation of the graft, and immediate handoff to the eye bank for preservation. Documentation in the donor chart includes consent, time of procurement, tissue types recovered, and chain-of-custody records. This procedure is distinct from autograft conjunctival procedures performed on living recipients and is billed when conjunctival tissue is harvested for transplantation into another patient, as described in 68371.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
26 | Professional component | Use when reporting only the surgeon's professional service separate from technical tissue-processing fees (rare for donor harvest). |