C1768: Graft, vascular
C1768 is a HCPCS Level II code for graft, vascular. 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 2026Q4-Oct. This states Medicare’s position on the code, not on your particular claim.
Medically Unlikely Edits: units per day
The most units of C1768 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
- 3 units MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Clinical: CMS Workgroup
- outpatient
- 3 units MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Clinical: Data
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 2026Q4.
The CMS record for C1768
- Long descriptor
- Graft, vascular
- Short descriptor
- Graft, vascular
- Added
- April 1, 2001
- BETOS
- D1A
- Pricing indicator
- 53: 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.
Statute.
Codes adjacent to C1768
HCPCS has no hierarchy: related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If C1768 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- C1760Closure device, vascular (implantable/insertable)
- C1761Catheter, transluminal intravascular lithotripsy, coronary
- C1762Connective tissue, human (includes fascia lata)
- C1763Connective tissue, non-human (includes synthetic)
- C1764Event recorder, cardiac (implantable)
- C1765Adhesion barrier
- C1766Introducer/sheath, guiding, intracardiac electrophysiological, steerable, other than peel-away
- C1767Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), non-rechargeable
- C1769Guide wire
- C1770Imaging coil, magnetic resonance (insertable)
- C1771Repair device, urinary, incontinence, with sling graft
- C1772Infusion pump, programmable (implantable)
- C1773Retrieval device, insertable (used to retrieve fractured medical devices)
- C1776Joint device (implantable)
- C1777Lead, cardioverter-defibrillator, endocardial single coil (implantable)
- C1778Lead, neurostimulator (implantable)