# CPT 64635

> Medicare paid $423.82 for CPT 64635 in the office (non-facility) setting and $228.49 in a facility under the Q2 2019 Physician Fee Schedule, effective April 2019. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2019, when it decreased 0.1%.

## 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: Q2 2019 (2019 B)
- Effective: April 1 – June 30, 2019
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $423.82
- Facility national allowed amount: $228.49
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 3.78
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 7.68
- Facility practice expense RVU: 2.26
- Malpractice RVU: 0.30
- Conversion factor: 36.0391
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q2 2019)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu19b.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU19_APR.csv, row 11,256
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2019/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2019/B
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:08:53+00:00