# CPT 64635

> Medicare paid $426.22 for CPT 64635 in the office (non-facility) setting and $229.89 in a facility under the Q1 2020 Physician Fee Schedule, effective January 2020. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This is a 0.6% increase from the previous quarter.

## 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: Q1 2020 (2020 A)
- Effective: January 1 – March 31, 2020
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $426.22
- Facility national allowed amount: $229.89
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 3.78
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 7.68
- Facility practice expense RVU: 2.24
- Malpractice RVU: 0.35
- Conversion factor: 36.0896
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q1 2020)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu20a-updated-01312020.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU20_Jan.csv, row 11,487
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2020/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/64635/2020/A
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:09:22+00:00