localis

Type a CPT/HCPCS code, a place, a service in plain words, or a whole claim line like 90837 LCSW 94110.

Try

CPT 54440 Medicare payment status

Contractor-priced

54440 · PFS Q2 2013 · Historical

No national PFS rate in Q2 2013

Your Medicare Administrative Contractor prices this code case by case, usually after reviewing documentation.

View applicable payment rules

PFS status evidence

Physician relative value file (Q2 2013) · rvu13b.zip (PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv row 9,286)
Inspect PFS status evidence
Code
54440
Release
Q2 2013, revision 1
Result
Contractor-priced

Citations

  • Shows this code’s PFS status (C). Result: Contractor-priced.

    Physician relative value file (PPRRVU)CMS RVU13BApril 1 – June 30, 2013

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

    PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv row 9,286 in rvu13b.zip

    In the CMS file

    Loading rows 9,284–9,288 of PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv…

    Download rvu13b.zip from CMS File fingerprint 7fa3270fb0a8148879b2996a1887928fbf73b8e70349c1dbd21d890154392e54

Report a problem

CPT 54440 has no published national rate. It carries status C (carrier-priced) in the Q2 2013 release. Your Medicare Administrative Contractor prices this code case by case, usually after reviewing documentation. The blank amount means unpriced, not $0.

Why is there no national PFS amount for 54440?

Its status indicator is C (carrier-priced). Your Medicare Administrative Contractor prices this code case by case, usually after reviewing documentation.

Which billing rules and modifiers apply? Copy link

CMS indicators that apply to 54440: GLOB DAYS 090 (90-day follow-up) · MULT PROC 2 (standard reduction applies) · ASST SURG 2 (payable) · CO SURG 1 (payable with documentation).

Global surgery period

90-day follow-up

GLOB DAYS

090

Major surgery. The fee covers the day before surgery, the day of surgery, and the 90 days after it. Related follow-up care inside that window is not billed separately.

Multiple procedures

Standard reduction applies

MULT PROC

2

When billed with other procedures on the same date, the highest-valued one is paid at 100% and the next four at 50% each.

-51 depends on the other codes on the same claim, so it's a claim-level number rather than a per-code one.

ASST SURG

2

An assistant at surgery may be separately paid for this procedure, typically as a percentage of the fee schedule amount.

Co-surgeons

Payable with documentation

CO SURG

1

Co-surgeons may be paid, but only with supporting documentation establishing the medical necessity of two surgeons.

Why would a Medicare claim for 54440 be denied or paid less?

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

  • Its status indicator is C (carrier-priced)—Your Medicare Administrative Contractor prices this code case by case, usually after reviewing documentation. See status indicators
  • 54440 carries a 90-day global period—routine post-operative care within that window is included in the surgical payment rather than paid on its own claim. See how it's computed
  • Bilateral surgery: no bilateral adjustment. See billing policy
  • Co-surgeons: payable with documentation. See billing policy
  • Team surgery: not permitted. See billing policy
  • Multiple procedures: standard reduction applies. See billing policy

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.

CMS RVU13BApril 1 – June 30, 2013

Can you bill it with another code? Copy link

This code

54440

See every current NCCI pair for 54440 →

Reconciling a contractor-priced payment for 54440 Copy link

What to check (5)

There is no national allowed amount for 54440, so every reconciliation of this line runs against the MAC fee schedule that was in force for the date of service rather than against a national baseline.

  • Compare the paid amount against the MAC fee schedule in force for the date of service; there is no national allowed amount here to reconcile against.
  • Check the dates before appealing a denial: related follow-up care in the 90 days after the procedure is already paid in this fee, so a post-operative visit denied in that window was denied correctly.
  • Rank the claim’s procedure lines before calling a reduced line short-paid—under the standard multiple-procedure rule only the highest-valued one prices in full.
  • Check that any -80 or -AS line was priced from the same release and locality as the primary line; an assistant at surgery prices at a percentage of the fee-schedule amount.
  • 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.

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files; CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files (status indicator field); CMS Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Pub. 100-04); 42 USC 1395w-4(i)(2) (SSA §1848(i)(2))—Assistants-at-surgery.

Source & method Copy link

The PFS file shows this code is priced by the contractor. Its amounts come from the MAC-published schedules and effective dates shown above.

  1. 01 PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv · Q2 2013 (RVU13B) · row 9,286—priced by the contractor
    Effective
    April 1 – June 30, 2013
    Locator
    PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv in rvu13b.zip · row 9,286 of 15,624 · via CMS
    Fields read
    Status C (col 4)
    SHA-256 7fa3270fb0a81488…
  2. 02 Physician & Other Practitioners · CY2024—volume and who bills it limits
    Effective
    Calendar-year snapshot, on a different cycle from the Q2 2013 fee schedule
    Doesn’t establish
    Medicare Advantage, Medicaid or commercial volume.
    Note
    The dataset suppresses rows under 11 beneficiaries.

Cite this rate

CPT 54440 National PFS baseline: No national PFS rate (Q2 2013; participating physician; whole service; GPCI 1.000; sequestration excluded). CMS RVU13B, PPRRVU13.V0215_04162013.csv row 9,286. Localis. https://localishealth.com/cpt/54440/2013/B

Past releases are never edited, so the citation stays checkable after CMS publishes a newer one. Methodology · Plain-text summary · JSON

How has it changed? Copy link

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.

Did this answer your question about CPT 54440?

Tell us what you were trying to work out and we'll answer you or build the page that does.

Did this page answer your question?

Usage and related codes Copy link

In CY2024, 54440 ranked #6,851 of the 7,879 CPT codes billed to Medicare that year, by patients served or total allowed dollars.

Services
36
Allowed
$29,606
Beneficiaries
32

CY2024 Medicare fee-for-service, from the CMS Physician & Other Practitioners dataset (limits).