# CPT 64633

> Medicare paid $429.12 for CPT 64633 in the office (non-facility) setting and $232.56 in a facility under the Q1 2018 Physician Fee Schedule, effective January 2018. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This is a 0.7% increase from the previous quarter.

## What it is

Deliberate destruction of the small nerve branches that carry pain from an arthritic facet joint in the neck or mid-back, almost always with a radiofrequency probe that heats the nerve until it stops conducting. Because the nerve regrows over months to a year or two, relief is long but not permanent. This entry covers the first facet joint treated on one side in the cervical or thoracic spine; the lower-back version and additional joints have their own codes. Unlike a facet injection, which delivers medication, this interrupts the nerve itself.

## Selected release

- Release: Q1 2018 (2018 A)
- Effective: January 1 – March 31, 2018
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $429.12
- Facility national allowed amount: $232.56
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 3.84
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 7.78
- Facility practice expense RVU: 2.32
- Malpractice RVU: 0.30
- Conversion factor: 35.9996
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q1 2018)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu18ar1.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU18_JAN.csv, row 11,004
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64633/2018/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64633/2018/A
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:08:09+00:00