C7556 — Bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with bronchial alveolar lavage and transendoscopic endobronchial ultrasound (ebus) during bronchoscopic diagnostic or therapeutic intervention(s) for peripheral lesion(s), including fluoroscopic guidance, when performed
C7556 is a HCPCS Level II code for bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with bronchial alveolar lavage and transendoscopic endobronchial ultrasound (ebus) during bronchoscopic diagnostic or therapeutic intervention(s) for peripheral lesion(s), including fluoroscopic guidance, when performed. It belongs to the Outpatient Prospective Payment System section. Whether Medicare pays it depends on the coverage rule below.
Medicare coverage: Special coverage instructions apply
There are published conditions attached to this code. Check the applicable coverage policy before billing it: the code being valid is not the same as the service being covered.
From the coverage field of the CMS Alpha-Numeric HCPCS File, release 2026Q3-Jul. This states Medicare’s position on the code, not on your particular claim.
Medically Unlikely Edits — units per day
The most units of C7556 Medicare will pay on one date of service. Bill more on a single line and it is denied. The limit is not the same in every setting, so the row that matters is the one matching the claim you are building.
- practitioner
- 1 unit MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction
- outpatient
- 1 unit MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction
The adjudication indicator decides whether exceeding the limit is worth appealing at all: MAI 1 is a line edit you can support with documentation, MAI 3 is a date-of-service edit that is also appealable, and MAI 2 is absolute — no documentation overrides it. CMS MUE 2026Q3.
The CMS record for C7556
- Long descriptor
- Bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with bronchial alveolar lavage and transendoscopic endobronchial ultrasound (ebus) during bronchoscopic diagnostic or therapeutic intervention(s) for peripheral lesion(s), including fluoroscopic guidance, when performed
- Short descriptor
- Bronch lavage w/ebus
- Added
- January 1, 2024
- BETOS
- P8F
- Pricing indicator
- 99 — Other
The official wording. This is what the code means.
CMS's 28-character form, which is what shows up on a remittance advice.
When CMS introduced the code.
Berenson-Eggers Type of Service — CMS's own analytic grouping.
Value not established.
Codes adjacent to C7556
HCPCS has no hierarchy — related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If C7556 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- C7548Exchange nephrostomy catheter, percutaneous, with ureteral stricture balloon dilation, including diagnostic nephrostogram and/or ureterogram when performed, imaging guidance (eg, ultrasound and/or fluoroscopy) and all associated radiological supervision and interpretation
- C7549Change of ureterostomy tube or externally accessible ureteral stent via ileal conduit with ureteral stricture balloon dilation, including imaging guidance (eg, ultrasound and/or fluoroscopy) and all associated radiological supervision and interpretation
- C7550Cystourethroscopy, with biopsy(ies) with adjunctive blue light cystoscopy with fluorescent imaging agent
- C7551Excision of major peripheral nerve neuroma, except sciatic, with implantation of nerve end into bone or muscle
- C7552Catheter placement in coronary artery(s) for coronary angiography, including intraprocedural injection(s) for coronary angiography, imaging supervision and interpretation; with catheter placement(s) in bypass graft(s) (internal mammary, free arterial, venous grafts) including intraprocedural injection(s) for bypass graft angiography and right heart catheterization with intravascular doppler velocity and/or pressure derived coronary flow reserve measurement (coronary vessel or graft) during coronary angiography including pharmacologically induced stress, initial vessel
- C7553Catheter placement in coronary artery(s) for coronary angiography, including intraprocedural injection(s) for coronary angiography, imaging supervision and interpretation; with right and left heart catheterization including intraprocedural injection(s) for left ventriculography, when performed, catheter placement(s) in bypass graft(s) (internal mammary, free arterial, venous grafts) with bypass graft angiography with pharmacologic agent administration (eg, inhaled nitric oxide, intravenous infusion of nitroprusside, dobutamine, milrinone, or other agent) including assessing hemodynamic measurements before, during, after and repeat pharmacologic agent administration, when performed
- C7554Cystourethroscopy with adjunctive blue light cystoscopy with fluorescent imaging agent
- C7555Thyroidectomy, total or complete with parathyroid autotransplantation
- C7557Catheter placement in coronary artery(s) for coronary angiography, including intraprocedural injection(s) for coronary angiography, imaging supervision and interpretation with left heart catheterization including intraprocedural injection(s) for left ventriculography, when performed and intraprocedural coronary fractional flow reserve (ffr) with 3d functional mapping of color-coded ffr values for the coronary tree, derived from coronary angiogram data, for real-time review and interpretation of possible atherosclerotic stenosis(es) intervention
- C7558Catheter placement in coronary artery(s) for coronary angiography, including intraprocedural injection(s) for coronary angiography, imaging supervision and interpretation with right and left heart catheterization including intraprocedural injection(s) for left ventriculography, when performed, catheter placement(s) in bypass graft(s) (internal mammary, free arterial, venous grafts) with bypass graft angiography with pharmacologic agent administration (eg, inhaled nitric oxide, intravenous infusion of nitroprusside, dobutamine, milrinone, or other agent) including assessing hemodynamic measurements before, during, after and repeat pharmacologic agent administration, when performedterminated
- C7560Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ercp) with removal of foreign body(s) or stent(s) from biliary/pancreatic duct(s) and endoscopic cannulation of papilla with direct visualization of pancreatic/common bile duct(s)
- C7562Catheter placement in coronary artery(s) for coronary angiography, including intraprocedural injection(s) for coronary angiography, imaging supervision and interpretation; with right and left heart catheterization including intraprocedural injection(s) for left ventriculography, when performed with intraprocedural coronary fractional flow reserve (ffr) with 3d functional mapping of color-coded ffr values for the coronary tree, derived from coronary angiogram data, for real-time review and interpretation of possible atherosclerotic stenosis(es) intervention
- C7563Transluminal balloon angioplasty (except lower extremity artery(ies) for occlusive disease, intracranial, coronary, pulmonary, or dialysis circuit), open or percutaneous, including all imaging and radiological supervision and interpretation necessary to perform the angioplasty within the same artery, initial artery and all additional arteries
- C7564Percutaneous transluminal mechanical thrombectomy, vein(s), including intraprocedural pharmacological thrombolytic injections and fluoroscopic guidance with intravascular ultrasound (noncoronary vessel(s)) during diagnostic evaluation and/or therapeutic intervention, including radiological supervision and interpretation
- C7565Repair of anterior abdominal hernia(s) (ie, epigastric, incisional, ventral, umbilical, spigelian), any approach (i.e., open, laparoscopic, robotic), recurrent, including implantation of mesh or other prosthesis when performed, total length of defect(s) less than 3 cm, reducible with removal of total or near total non-infected mesh or other prosthesis at the time of initial or recurrent anterior abdominal hernia repair or parastomal hernia repair
- C7566Arthrodesis, interphalangeal joints, with or without internal fixation, with autografts (includes obtaining grafts)
Questions about C7556
What is HCPCS code C7556?
C7556 is a HCPCS Level II code for bronchoscopy, rigid or flexible, with bronchial alveolar lavage and transendoscopic endobronchial ultrasound (ebus) during bronchoscopic diagnostic or therapeutic intervention(s) for peripheral lesion(s), including fluoroscopic guidance, when performed. It sits in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System section.
Does Medicare cover C7556?
The CMS HCPCS file marks C7556 as "Special coverage instructions apply". There are published conditions attached to this code. Check the applicable coverage policy before billing it: the code being valid is not the same as the service being covered.