C8957: Intravenous infusion for therapy/diagnosis; initiation of prolonged infusion (more than 8 hours), requiring use of portable or implantable pump
C8957 is a HCPCS Level II code for intravenous infusion for therapy/diagnosis; initiation of prolonged infusion (more than 8 hours), requiring use of portable or implantable pump. 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 C8957 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 · CMS Policy
- outpatient
- 2 units MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · CMS Policy
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 C8957
- Long descriptor
- Intravenous infusion for therapy/diagnosis; initiation of prolonged infusion (more than 8 hours), requiring use of portable or implantable pump
- Short descriptor
- Prolonged iv inf, req pump
- Added
- January 1, 2006
- BETOS
- P6D
- 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 C8957
HCPCS has no hierarchy: related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If C8957 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- C8930Transthoracic echocardiography, with contrast, or without contrast followed by with contrast, real-time with image documentation (2d), includes m-mode recording, when performed, during rest and cardiovascular stress test using treadmill, bicycle exercise and/or pharmacologically induced stress, with interpretation and report; including performance of continuous electrocardiographic monitoring, with physician supervision
- C8931Magnetic resonance angiography with contrast, spinal canal and contents
- C8932Magnetic resonance angiography without contrast, spinal canal and contents
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- C8934Magnetic resonance angiography with contrast, upper extremity
- C8935Magnetic resonance angiography without contrast, upper extremity
- C8936Magnetic resonance angiography without contrast followed by with contrast, upper extremity
- C8937Computer-aided detection, including computer algorithm analysis of breast mri image data for lesion detection/characterization, pharmacokinetic analysis, with further physician review for interpretation (list separately in addition to code for primary procedure)
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