C1818: Integrated keratoprosthesis
C1818 is a HCPCS Level II code for integrated keratoprosthesis. 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 C1818 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
- 2 units MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Clinical: CMS Workgroup
- outpatient
- 2 units MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Anatomic Consideration
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 C1818
- Long descriptor
- Integrated keratoprosthesis
- Short descriptor
- Integrated keratoprosthesis
- Added
- July 1, 2003
- 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 C1818
HCPCS has no hierarchy: related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If C1818 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- C1787Patient programmer, neurostimulator
- C1788Port, indwelling (implantable)
- C1789Prosthesis, breast (implantable)
- C1813Prosthesis, penile, inflatable
- C1814Retinal tamponade device, silicone oil
- C1815Prosthesis, urinary sphincter (implantable)
- C1816Receiver and/or transmitter, neurostimulator (implantable)
- C1817Septal defect implant system, intracardiac
- C1819Surgical tissue localization and excision device (implantable)
- C1820Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), with rechargeable battery and charging system
- C1821Interspinous process distraction device (implantable)
- C1822Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), high frequency, with rechargeable battery and charging system
- C1823Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), non-rechargeable, with transvenous sensing and stimulation leads
- C1824Generator, cardiac contractility modulation (implantable)
- C1825Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), non-rechargeable with carotid sinus baroreceptor stimulation lead(s)
- C1826Generator, neurostimulator (implantable), includes closed feedback loop leads and all implantable components, with rechargeable battery and charging system