`78453` Ht muscle image planar sing

What 78453 is

CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Ht muscle image planar sing.

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 78453 (CY2026)

	Work RVU	Practice expense RVU	Malpractice RVU	Total	Medicare rate
Non-facility (office)	0.98	6.79	0.10	7.87	$262.87
Facility (hospital, ASC)	0.98	6.79	0.10	7.87	$262.87

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: Global concept does not apply.

Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE)

Medicare caps 78453 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 78453? These codes are bundled into it

78453 is a Column 1 code in 47 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
`0541T`	Myocardial imaging mcg	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`0542T`	Myocardial imaging mcg i&r	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`0694T`	3d vol img&rcnstj brst/ax	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`0708T`	Id ca immntx prep & 1st njx	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`0709T`	Id ca immntx each addl njx	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`36000`	Place needle in vein	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`36005`	Injection ext venography	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`36410`	Vnpnxr 3yr/> phy/qhp dx/ther	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
`76000`	Fluoroscopy <1 hr phys/qhp	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`76376`	3d render w/intrp postproces	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`76377`	3d render w/intrp postproces	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`76942`	Echo guide for biopsy	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`76998`	Us guide intraop	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`77001`	Fluoroguide for vein device	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`77002`	Needle localization by xray	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair
`77790`	Radiation handling	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78445`	Vascular flow imaging	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78472`	Gated heart planar single	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78473`	Gated heart multiple	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78481`	Heart first pass single	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78483`	Heart first pass multiple	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78496`	Heart first pass add-on	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78580`	Lung perfusion imaging	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78582`	Lung ventilat&perfus imaging	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78597`	Lung perfusion differential	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78598`	Lung perf&ventilat diferentl	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`78635`	Csf ventriculography	0 - no modifier bypass	Check pair
`96360`	Hydration iv infusion init	1 - modifier may bypass	Check pair

Showing 30 of 47 column 2 codes. Use the pair checker for any specific combination.

78453 is bundled into these codes

78453 appears as a Column 2 code in 4 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 78453 is the code that denies.

Column 1 code	Short description
`78451`	Ht muscle image spect sing	Check pair
`78452`	Ht muscle image spect mult	Check pair
`78454`	Ht musc image planar mult	Check pair
`79101`	Nuclear rx iv admin	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.