CPT 27331, in plain terms, covers Open knee joint exploration that may include biopsy or removal of loose or foreign bodies. CPT 27331 is referenced in 4 tracked payer policy changes from UnitedHealthcare and Capital Blue Cross. For billers and coders, staying current on payer-specific coverage criteria, reimbursement rules, and prior-authorization requirements for CPT 27331 is critical to clean claim submission. Each entry below links to the full policy analysis with effective dates and action steps.
Official descriptor: CPT 27331 on AAPC
UnitedHealthcare is removing a long list of CPT codes from the applicable-code list of its Outpatient Surgical Procedures site-of-service policy for Exchange plans, and it is also removing the link to the Manipulation Under Anesthesia policy. The change takes effect December 1, 2026. The source does not state a new billing requirement for the removed codes.
Effective December 1, 2026, UMR removes more than 500 CPT codes from its Outpatient Surgical Procedures - Site of Service medical policy for commercial plans, and it drops a reference link to the Manipulation Under Anesthesia policy. For those codes, UMR's site-of-service policy no longer applies, so the practice should update its internal UMR site-of-service and prior authorization lists before that date.
Effective December 1, 2026, UnitedHealthcare removes more than 500 CPT codes from its Outpatient Surgical Procedures - Site of Service medical policy for commercial plans, and it drops a reference link to the Manipulation Under Anesthesia policy. For those codes, the site-of-service policy no longer applies under this UnitedHealthcare commercial policy, so the practice should update its internal site-of-service and prior authorization lists before that date.
Effective March 1, 2026, a number of codes newly require preauthorization for Commercial and Medicare Advantage members, including 20985, 22100 and 27860, and HCPCS code H0032 will be denied because the service is not provided directly to members. Codes C1605, C1721 and others no longer require preauthorization effective February 1, 2026, Evolent updated its CT, MRI, PET and cardiac imaging policies effective March 1, 2026, and TurningPoint accepts listed substitute codes for a limited group of musculoskeletal surgical procedures effective February 1, 2026. Effective for claims processed on or after March 1, 2026, facility claims with modifiers 59, XE, XP, XS and XU that do not meet the CMS criteria to bypass an NCCI procedure-to-procedure edit will be rejected, and physical medicine code 97140 is not separately reimbursed when billed with chiropractic manipulative treatment in the same anatomical region.
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