CPT 52344, in plain terms, covers Physician performs cystoscopy with ureteroscopy and treats a ureteral stricture, such as by balloon dilation, laser, electrocautery, or incision. CPT 52344 is referenced in 3 tracked payer policy changes from UnitedHealthcare. For billers and coders, staying current on payer-specific coverage criteria, reimbursement rules, and prior-authorization requirements for CPT 52344 is critical to clean claim submission. Each entry below links to the full policy analysis with effective dates and action steps.
Official descriptor: CPT 52344 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.
Watch 52344
Get one email when a payer policy names 52344, a payer adds or drops it from a prior auth list, or Medicare changes its NCCI pairs, unit limit, payment or coverage articles.
See every payer rule for 52344
Prior authorization lists, coverage criteria, NCCI edits and Medicare coverage articles for 52344 in one place.
Get alerts for changes like this
Save a search and get email alerts when a new policy change matches your filters: daily or weekly, your choice, on every plan.