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Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Effective CMS RVU21D Updated

CPT 38209 Medicare payment status

CPT 38209 has no published national rate. It carries status I (not valid) in the Q4 2021 release. Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for this service. The blank amount means unpriced, not $0.

Unable to determine from available CMS sources

38209 · PFS Q4 2021 · Historical

Status I is not separately payable under the PFS.

View applicable payment rules
View CMS source and method

CMS RVU21DOctober 1 – December 31, 2021

CPT 38209 has no published national rate. It carries status I (not valid) in the Q4 2021 release. Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for this service. The blank amount means unpriced, not $0.

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PFS status evidence

Physician relative value file (Q4 2021) · rvu21d.zip (PPRRVU21_OCT.csv row 9,211)
Inspect PFS status evidence
Code
38209
Release
Q4 2021, revision 1
Result
Unable to determine from available CMS sources

Citations

  • Shows this code’s PFS status (I). Result: Unable to determine from available CMS sources.

    Physician relative value file (PPRRVU)CMS RVU21DOctober 1 – December 31, 2021

    This PFS record alone does not establish a $0 allowance or a coverage determination. Any amount from another schedule needs its own evidence.

    PPRRVU21_OCT.csv row 9,211 in rvu21d.zip

    In the CMS file

    Loading rows 9,209–9,213 of PPRRVU21_OCT.csv…

    Download rvu21d.zip from CMS File fingerprint f1972bd23bdc51795ceba7d536bb413a0ba0b47fad8c2ed594e7ee7799877297

Plain-text summary

Why is there no national PFS amount for 38209?

Its status indicator is I (not valid). Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for this service. Status I is not separately payable under the PFS.

Payment considerations Copy link

Here are the inputs and payment rules that apply to this code. Each link takes you to the detail below.

Other payment indicators (10)

Facility/non-facility: Not determined, Professional/technical component: Does not apply, Bilateral adjustment: Does not apply, Multiple-procedure reduction: Does not apply, Assistant/co-surgeon treatment: Does not apply, Global surgery: Does not apply, NCCI same-day edits: Not determined, MUE behavior: Not determined, Other fee-schedule routing: Does not apply, Contractor pricing: Does not apply.

Why would a Medicare claim for 38209 be denied or paid less?

These come from CMS indicators on this page, not general billing advice.

  • Its status indicator is I (not valid)—Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for this service. See status indicators

Payer-specific coverage and documentation rules live outside these files, so a claim that clears every check here can still be denied on other grounds.

Why a 38209 line may not pay separately Copy link

CMS publishes no separately payable amount for 38209 in this release, so reconciling the line means establishing which status governed the date of service rather than chasing a fee-schedule difference.

What to check

  • Confirm the status that governed the date of service before working this line as a short payment—CMS publishes no separately payable fee-schedule amount for it in this release.
  • Check the place of service: CMS publishes no Office (non-facility) practice-expense amount for this code, so it prices in a Facility setting only.
  • Reprice the line against the release, locality, setting, modifier and participation status that applied to the date of service before treating any difference as an underpayment.

Codes to compare

National Q4 2021 amounts at GPCI 1.000. A blank means this schedule does not publish a payable PFS amount.

None of the comparison codes are in this release.

Check an actual payment Model this code in a contract

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files; CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files (status indicator field); CMS Practice Expense methodology (cms.gov).

Which billing rules and modifiers apply? Copy link

Global period: what 38209's fee already covers Copy link

XXX Does not apply

The global surgery concept does not apply to this code.

Can you bill it with another code? Copy link

Check a pair of codes Copy link

Enter a second CPT or HCPCS code billed on the same date of service. We'll check the current NCCI procedure-to-procedure edit for the pair.

See every current NCCI pair for 38209 →

How has it changed? Copy link

Rate history by release Copy link

National Office (non-facility) amount for 38209 across quarterly releases.

Release Status Office Facility
Q4 2026 Oct 1, 2026 – present I — —
Q3 2026 Jul 1, 2026 – Sep 30, 2026 I — —
Q2 2026 Apr 1, 2026 – Jun 30, 2026 I — —
When does this rate change?

CMS publishes a fee schedule release every quarter (January, April, July, October), and each is versioned here. See what changed each release, or get an email when a new release moves rates.

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files.

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Source & method

Show sources

This page uses CMS's Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Q4 2021 release (effective October 2021). National baselines use GPCI 1.000 and exclude sequestration. Whether a national amount exists depends on the status and CMS’s payment instructions; blank RVUs are never treated as zero. Past releases are never edited, so these sources stay valid after CMS publishes a newer one. Our methodology explains sourcing, parsing, versioning, and how we cross-check claims before we publish them.

Physician relative value file (Q4 2021) · rvu21d.zip (PPRRVU21_OCT.csv row 9,211)

Cite this rate

The citation names the release, so anyone can check it even after CMS publishes a newer one.

CPT 38209 National PFS baseline: No national PFS rate (Q4 2021; participating; whole service; GPCI 1.000; sequestration excluded). CMS RVU21D, PPRRVU21_OCT.csv row 9,211. Localis. https://localishealth.com/cpt/38209/2021/D