# CPT 64635

> Medicare paid $424.44 for CPT 64635 in the office (non-facility) setting and $229.32 in a facility under the Q4 2018 Physician Fee Schedule, effective October 2018. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2018, when it increased 0.7%.

## What it is

The lumbar and sacral version of facet nerve ablation: the small sensory nerve branches supplying an arthritic facet joint in the lower back are heated with a radiofrequency probe so they stop transmitting pain. Placement is guided by x-ray, and the joint is normally identified first by test injections that temporarily numb it. This code covers the first joint treated on a side; additional joints are reported with a companion code. The effect lasts until the nerve slowly regrows, after which it can be repeated.

## Selected release

- Release: Q4 2018 (2018 D)
- Effective: October 1 – December 31, 2018
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $424.44
- Facility national allowed amount: $229.32
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 3.78
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 7.72
- Facility practice expense RVU: 2.30
- Malpractice RVU: 0.29
- 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 (Q4 2018)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu18d.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU18_OCT.csv, row 11,050
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2018/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2018/D
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:08:37+00:00