ICUS Announces Handy CEUS Coding and Payment Chart, Reflecting Doubled Reimbursement

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) today announced a handy new chart that may be used to guide coding and payment for contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for cardiac and non-cardiac applications – including a new code that doubled reimbursement for certain CEUS scans effective January 1, 2026.

The new ICUS coding and payment chart is found on the ICUS website (www.ICUS-Society.org) and is easily accessed on smart phones through the free ICUS mobile app, ICUS CONNECT, available for Apple and Android devices.

Payment recently doubled from $170.02 to $356.43 for non-cardiac CEUS under a newly assigned billing code that “ensures appropriate payment for these services,” according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The new code, supported by ICUS, reassigns non-cardiac CEUS to the same billing code used for contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) procedures – namely, APC 5572 (Level 2 Imaging with Contrast).

CEUS often is equivalent to CT and MRI in its sensitivity and specificity, according to Dr. Richard G. Barr, Professor of Radiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University and an officer of ICUS.

“CEUS costs far less than contrast MR or CT, and it often does a better job,” he said.

In addition, a portable ultrasound system can be brought to the patient’s bedside and provide a reliable diagnosis in real time – avoiding the need to transport patients to a CT or MR imaging suite.

“This reduces delays often associated with CT and MR, streamlines workflows, speeds up diagnosis, improves patient outcomes and saves lives,” according to Dr. Steven Feinstein, a cardiologist and Co-President of ICUS.

CEUS is used worldwide to help identify and characterize tumors, diagnose heart and vascular disease, monitor chronic gastro-intestinal diseases and monitor therapy.

CEUS uses intravenously-administered ultrasound contrast agents to enhance ultrasound images, allowing physicians to visualize abnormal microvascular blood flow patterns in real time without ionizing radiation.

Three ultrasound contrast agents are commercially available in the United States: Lumason (Bracco Imaging); Definity (Lantheus); and Optison (GE Healthcare). However, Lumason is the only ultrasound contrast agent approved for non-cardiac indications by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

ABOUT ICUS:

The International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) is a nonprofit medical society dedicated to advancing the safe and medically appropriate use of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to improve patient care. Membership in ICUS is free of charge and there is no fee for ICUS educational programs, CME credits, newsletters or other resources. To join ICUS and learn more about CEUS, visit www.icus-society.org and download ICUS CONNECT, the free ICUS mobile app.