Summary
Surest removed CPT codes 22850, 22855, and 63286 from its spinal fusion and decompression medical policy, as published in its November 2026 medical policy update bulletin with an effective date of 2026-12-01. Billing teams should stop submitting these codes to Surest for services on or after that date and update charge entry and claim edits so they are not sent.
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What to do
Action · 3 steps
01By 2026-12-01: Billing team should remove CPT 22850, 22855, and 63286 from charge master, charge entry, and claim scrubber edits for Surest members so claims for these codes are not prepared after the effective date.
02Providers and front desk staff should be told these codes are no longer on the Surest spinal fusion and decompression policy, so scheduling and documentation match the updated coding; confirm the change against the current Surest policy before applying it, and watch for any further Surest notice on alternative codes.
03Claims submitted with these codes on or after 2026-12-01 will be denied under the updated policy.
Codes mentioned
228502285563286
Original notice
Spinal Fusion and Decompression
uhcprovider.com · Always check the source before changing claims.
Related changes
See all UnitedHealthcare changes →Spinal Fusion and DecompressionMediumEffective Dec 1, 2026 · Medical PolicySpinal Fusion and DecompressionMediumEffective Dec 1, 2026 · Medical PolicySpinal Fusion and DecompressionMediumEffective Dec 1, 2026 · Medical PolicySpinal Fusion and DecompressionHighEffective Nov 1, 2026 · Medical PolicyBrowse every UnitedHealthcare change in the policy list