Summary & Overview
HCPCS S2055: Harvesting of Donor Multivisceral Organs, Cadaver Donor
HCPCS Level II code S2055 denotes the harvesting of donor multivisceral organs with preparation and maintenance of allografts from a cadaver donor. This code captures a high-acuity, resource-intensive service that supports transplantation programs and the national organ supply chain. Accurate use of S2055 is important for clinical documentation, organ procurement organization billing, and tracking donor service volume across centers.
Key payers addressed in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. The publication outlines coverage considerations and benchmarks relevant to hospital and organ procurement organization billing practices.
Readers will find a concise explanation of the clinical and procedural context for S2055, typical sites of service, and which payers are commonly involved. The report also summarizes billing patterns, common modifiers associated with organ procurement claims (listed separately), and guidance on where to find policy updates and payer-specific coverage language. Where input data is missing, the publication notes that information is not available in the input.
This resource is intended for hospital billing teams, organ procurement organizations, and transplant program administrators seeking a national overview of how HCPCS Level II code S2055 is used and reimbursed across major payers.
Billing Code Overview
HCPCS Level II code S2055 describes the harvesting of donor multivisceral organs, with preparation and maintenance of allografts; from cadaver donor. This service encompasses procurement of multiple abdominal and thoracic organs from a deceased donor, followed by preparation and short-term preservation of the allografts for transplantation.
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Service type: Organ procurement and allograft preparation
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Typical site of service: Hospital operating room and associated tissue bank or organ procurement organization facilities
Data not available in the input for associated taxonomies, ICD-10 diagnoses, and related codes.
Clinical & Coding Specifications
Clinical Context
A regional organ procurement organization coordinates retrieval of multivisceral organs from a brain-dead cadaveric donor in a Level I trauma center operating room. The donor is declared brain dead after catastrophic intracranial hemorrhage and consent for organ donation was obtained from next of kin. A multidisciplinary procurement team (transplant surgeon, anesthesiologist, scrub techs, and OPO coordinator) performs donor assessment, hemodynamic optimization, and simultaneous organ recovery. The procedure S2055 is used when the team harvests multiple abdominal and thoracic viscera (for example, liver, pancreas, small intestine, stomach, spleen, and possibly heart and lungs) with preparation and preservation of allografts for transport to multiple transplant centers. Typical workflow steps: preoperative donor evaluation and laboratory testing, operating room setup with preservation solutions and transport containers, donor anesthesia management and organ perfusion with cold preservation solution, surgical explantation of multivisceral block(s), back-table preparation and packaging of individual allografts, documentation of organ allocation and chain-of-custody, and transfer of grafts to recipient centers. Typical site of service is an acute hospital operating room, often in a tertiary care or trauma center. Typical patient scenario: an adult cadaveric donor after catastrophic brain injury who is medically suitable for multiorgan donation and consents to multivisceral recovery for distribution to multiple transplant programs.
Coding Specifications
| Modifier | Description | When to Use |
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