Summary & Overview
CPT 78262: Gastric Emptying Study with Radiopharmaceutical Tracer
CPT code 78262 identifies a nuclear medicine gastric emptying study in which the patient drinks a liquid labeled with a radiopharmaceutical and serial imaging evaluates how quickly the stomach empties, gastric motility, downstream transit, and any aspiration into the lungs. This procedure is clinically important for diagnosing gastroparesis, functional dyspepsia, post-surgical motility disorders, and suspected aspiration — conditions that affect care pathways across outpatient and hospital settings. Nationally, proper coding and clinical documentation for 78262 affect access to diagnostic evaluation and guide subsequent therapeutic decisions.
Key payers in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise review of what 78262 represents clinically, where the service is typically performed, and which payers commonly cover the procedure. The publication also summarizes benchmarks and payment context where available, highlights common clinical indications, and outlines documentation elements that typically support medical necessity determinations.
Data not available in the input for specific associated taxonomies, ICD-10 diagnoses, related codes, and payer-specific reimbursement rates.
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 78262 describes an imaging study of the stomach after the patient ingests a liquid combined with a radiopharmaceutical tracer. The examination measures gastric emptying, evaluates gastric motility and transit into the distal gastrointestinal tract, and assesses for aspiration of the test solution into the lungs.
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Service type: Nuclear medicine gastric emptying study
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Typical site of service: Hospital outpatient department or ambulatory imaging center
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A 45-year-old patient presents with several months of postprandial nausea, early satiety, bloating, and intermittent vomiting. The referring gastroenterologist orders a gastric emptying study to evaluate for suspected gastroparesis and to quantify gastric retention. The nuclear medicine department schedules the patient for a standard solid or liquid gastric emptying scintigraphy. On the day of service the patient ingests a radiolabeled liquid meal or liquid tracer per protocol while baseline images are obtained. Serial imaging is performed over a prescribed interval to measure the rate of gastric emptying and to detect abnormal retention, delayed gastric motility, or aspiration of the radionuclide into the lungs. The interpreting nuclear medicine physician documents findings, provides a quantitative emptying rate, and reports whether there is evidence of reflux or pulmonary aspiration. Typical workflow includes patient check-in, review of contraindications (pregnancy, breastfeeding), tracer administration, image acquisition by the technologist, image processing, interpretation and reporting by the physician, and billing of the technical and professional components as applicable for 78262.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
26 | Professional component | Use when billing only the physician interpretation/report for the study. |