`33924` Remove pulmonary shunt

What 33924 is

CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Remove pulmonary shunt.

Full CPT long descriptions are licensed by the American Medical Association and are not published on this site; the short descriptor above is the one CMS prints in its own fee schedule file. See About CPT.

Medicare payment for 33924 (CY2026)

	Work RVU	Practice expense RVU	Malpractice RVU	Total	Medicare rate
Non-facility (office)	5.35	1.06	1.33	7.74	$258.52
Facility (hospital, ASC)	5.35	1.06	1.33	7.74	$258.52

National rates: total RVUs x the CY2026 conversion factor of 33.4009 (non-QP), before geographic adjustment. Actual Medicare payment is 80% of the rate shown after the deductible; the patient or secondary payer owes the 20% coinsurance.

Adjust for a Medicare locality:

Status: Active - payable under the Physician Fee Schedule. Global period: Add-on code: global period of the primary procedure applies.

Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE)

Medicare caps 33924 at 1 unit per date of service for practitioner claims (MAI 2 - date of service edit (absolute): units above the MUE never pay), rationale: Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.

Billed with 33924? These codes are bundled into it

33924 is a Column 1 code in 23 active NCCI PTP edits. When one of these Column 2 codes is reported on the same date of service, it is denied as bundled - unless the edit's modifier indicator is 1 and documentation supports a distinct service with an NCCI-associated modifier.

Column 2 code	Short description	Modifier indicator
`20680`	Removal of implant deep	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`21750`	Repair of sternum separation	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`32551`	Insertion of chest tube	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`32554`	Aspirate pleura w/o imaging	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`32555`	Aspirate pleura w/ imaging	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`32556`	Insert cath pleura w/o image	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`32557`	Insert cath pleura w/ image	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`33140`	Heart revascularize (tmr)	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33210`	Insert electrd/pm cath sngl	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33211`	Insert card electrodes dual	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33254`	Ablate atria lmtd	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33255`	Ablate atria w/o bypass ext	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33256`	Ablate atria w/bypass exten	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`33310`	Exploratory heart surgery	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`33315`	Exploratory heart surgery	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`35702`	Expl n/flwd surg uxtr art	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`35703`	Expl n/flwd surg lxtr art	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`36591`	Draw blood off venous device	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`36592`	Collect blood from picc	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`39000`	Exploration of chest	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`39010`	Exploration of chest	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`93355`	Echo transesophageal (tee)	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`96523`	Irrig drug delivery device	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair

33924 is bundled into these codes

33924 appears as a Column 2 code in 1 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 33924 is the code that denies.

Column 1 code	Short description	Modifier indicator
`33267`	Excl laa open any method	0	Check pair

Data: CMS CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule RVU file (October release, RVU26D) and Medicare NCCI PTP practitioner edits v32.3 (2026 Q4). Verify against the official files before billing or contracting decisions.