If your charge master still has 92921, 92925, or 92929 on it, every claim carrying one of those codes since January 1, 2026 is going to deny. All three — along with 92934, 92938, and 92944 — were deleted from the CPT codebook effective January 1, 2026. This isn’t a temporary payer edit. It’s a permanent structural change to how PCI branch work is reported, and it changes how you bill multi-vessel intervention going forward. MedLearn Publishing

CPT deleted six PCI branch add-on codes effective January 1, 2026: 92921, 92925, 92929, 92934, 92938, and 92944. Work on branches of the same major coronary artery now falls under the revised primary PCI codes, so no separate add-on code is reported for branch work.

Which PCI Add-On Codes Were Deleted for 2026

These six codes existed for one purpose: reporting additional branch work within an artery you’d already billed a primary intervention code for. Each one was an “each additional branch” add-on tied to a specific primary procedure. One O Seven RCM

Deleted code	What it reported	What you bill instead in 2026
92921	Angioplasty, each additional branch	Folded into 92920
92925	Atherectomy with angioplasty, each additional branch	Folded into 92924
92929	Stent placement with angioplasty, each additional branch	Folded into 92928
92934	Atherectomy with stent, each additional branch	Folded into 92933
92938	PCI through a bypass graft, each additional branch	Folded into 92937
92944	CTO revascularization, each additional artery/branch/graft	Folded into 92943, or reported as 92945 for combined antegrade/retrograde CTO work

Two thrombolysis codes, 92975 and 92977, were also deleted as rarely utilized — unrelated to the branch consolidation but part of the same 2026 revision to this CPT section. MedLearn Publishing

Any of these six codes appearing on a claim dated January 1, 2026 or later will return as an invalid or deleted code. If your EHR superbill or practice management system still lists them, that’s the first thing to fix — before you touch anything about how multi-vessel cases are documented.

Why CPT Made This Change

The AMA’s rationale, reflected in the revised code language, is that reporting a base procedure plus a separate add-on for every additional branch didn’t map cleanly to how interventional cardiologists actually describe and document a single-artery case. Under the new structure, all work performed in a major coronary artery and its branches is captured by one code, regardless of how many branches or segments within that artery were treated. CPT also reinforced the one-code-per-major-artery principle by folding branch work directly into the revised code descriptors, rather than leaving it as a separate reporting restriction — the logic didn’t disappear, it moved into the descriptor language itself. One O Seven RCMMedical Billers and Coders

The Revised Primary PCI Codes You Bill Instead

The six primary codes below absorbed the branch work that used to require an add-on. Each descriptor was revised to include the phrase “and/or its branch(es).”

Code	Procedure
92920	Angioplasty, single major coronary artery and/or its branch(es)
92924	Atherectomy with angioplasty, single major coronary artery and/or its branch(es)
92928	Stent placement with angioplasty, single major coronary artery and/or its branch(es)
92933	Atherectomy with stent placement, single major coronary artery and/or its branch(es)
92937	PCI through a coronary bypass graft
92941	PCI during acute myocardial infarction
92943	CTO revascularization, antegrade approach

To use these correctly, you need CPT’s own definitions, which changed alongside the codes:

• Major coronary artery — left main, left anterior descending, left circumflex, right coronary, and ramus intermedius. One O Seven RCM
• Coronary artery branch — up to two branches each of the LAD (diagonals), LCX (marginals), and right coronary (posterior descending, posterolaterals); the left main and ramus intermedius have none. One O Seven RCM
• Coronary lesion — runs from the proximal to the distal end of the target lesion, and a single lesion may span multiple segments or extend from a major artery into a branch. One O Seven RCM
• Coronary segment — a portion of a major coronary artery and/or its branches. One O Seven RCM

The Two New 2026 Codes: 92930 and 92945

CPT added two codes to capture complexity that a single-lesion primary code doesn’t describe.

92930 covers two or more distinct coronary lesions with two or more stents deployed in two or more coronary segments of the same major artery, or a bifurcation lesion requiring angioplasty and/or stenting in both the main artery and the side branch. 92928, by contrast, covers a single lesion regardless of how many stents or segments within that lesion are involved — the distinction is distinct lesions, not stent count. One O Seven RCMOne O Seven RCM

92945 covers chronic total occlusion revascularization using combined antegrade and retrograde approaches, sitting alongside 92943 (antegrade-only CTO work).

CPT 92930 is new for 2026. It reports complex single-artery stenting: two or more distinct lesions with two or more stents in two or more segments, or a bifurcation lesion stented in both the main artery and the side branch. Use 92928 for a single lesion regardless of stent count.

How to Bill Multi-Vessel Coronary Intervention in 2026

This is where most of the confusion — and most of the denials — are landing.

Multi-vessel PCI in 2026 uses one primary code per major coronary artery treated, such as 92928 for the LAD and 92928 for the RCA with vessel-specific modifiers. All work within one artery and its branches uses a single code; separate arteries are billed separately.

Breaking that down into the three scenarios that come up in practice:

Same artery, multiple branches. If a cardiologist stents the LAD and a diagonal branch off the LAD in the same session, that’s one code — 92928 — not 92928 plus a branch add-on. 92930 applies instead if the case involves two or more distinct lesions with two or more stents in two or more segments, or a true bifurcation stenting the main vessel and the side branch. One O Seven RCM

Different major arteries. Work on separate lesions in different major coronary arteries remains separately reportable. A stent in the LAD plus a stent in the RCA in the same session is still two line items — for example, 92928-LD and 92928-RC — using the coronary artery modifiers (LD, LC, RC) payers require to identify which vessel each code applies to. What’s changed is that neither line item can carry a branch add-on anymore; branch work within each artery is absorbed into that artery’s single code. One O Seven RCM

Bypass graft vs. native vessel. Work performed through a bypass graft is reported separately from work performed in the native coronary artery, using 92937 for the graft-based intervention. One O Seven RCM

Common Billing Mistakes to Avoid

• Billing a deleted add-on code. 92921, 92925, 92929, 92934, 92938, or 92944 on any 2026 date of service will deny as an invalid or deleted code. Charge masters, EHR templates, and superbills need to be purged of all six.
• Double-billing 92928 for branch work within the same artery. If the branch work was in the same major artery as the primary lesion, it doesn’t get its own line — check whether 92930 applies instead before assuming a second code is owed.
• Missing vessel modifiers on multi-artery claims. When you do have two legitimate primary codes for two different arteries, each needs its own vessel modifier so the payer can distinguish them.
• Assuming your payer’s system caught up. Commercial payer claims-processing systems don’t always load AMA’s annual code updates on the same timeline as Medicare. If a 2026 claim denies for a reason that doesn’t match this guide, confirm the payer has the current code set loaded before resubmitting.

Practical Next Steps for Your Charge Master

1. Search your EHR charge-capture template and superbill for all six deleted codes and remove them.
2. Re-train coding staff on the distinction between 92928 (single lesion) and 92930 (multiple distinct lesions or bifurcation) — this is the highest-risk area for both under- and over-coding.
3. Confirm vessel modifier requirements (LD/LC/RC or payer equivalent) are still being applied on every multi-artery claim.
4. Hold a small batch of 2026 PCI claims for internal review before full-volume submission, specifically checking multi-vessel cases against the “same artery vs. different artery” logic above.

FAQs

Do I still need a modifier for the LAD, LCX, and RCA?
Yes. The 2026 changes affected which base code you bill, not the modifier requirement. Vessel-specific modifiers are still expected wherever a payer requires them to distinguish which artery a code applies to.

Is 92928 billed once per stent or once per artery?
Once per artery, for a single lesion, regardless of how many stents are placed within it. Multiple distinct lesions within that same artery may instead qualify for 92930.

What if a claim from early 2026 was submitted with a deleted code before we caught this?
That claim likely denied for an invalid/deleted code. It generally needs to be corrected and resubmitted with the appropriate current-year code rather than appealed, since the original code no longer exists in the CPT set.

Last updated: August 20, 2026

Methodology: This article is based on the 2026 CPT Professional Edition code changes as summarized by the American College of Cardiology’s Coding Corner (published December 4, 2025) and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions’ official 2026 PCI Coding Changes brochure, both of which cite the AMA CPT 2026 codebook directly. No claims regarding Medicare or commercial payer reimbursement amounts are made in this article; readers should verify payment rates directly through the CMS Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool or their payer’s published fee schedule.

Reviewed by: Sarah Callahan, CMRS, CHC — CureAdvantage
Written by: Eman Zahra, CPC, CPMA

Disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or coding advice for a specific claim. CPT codes are proprietary to the American Medical Association. Verify current code status, payer coverage, and reimbursement directly with the AMA CPT codebook, CMS, and your payer’s published policy before making billing decisions.