# CPT 72110

> Medicare paid $49.68 for CPT 72110 in the office (non-facility) setting and $49.68 in a facility under the Q3 2018 Physician Fee Schedule, effective July 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 0.3%.

## What it is

The complete plain-film study of the lower back - front, side, and additional angled views, often including a focused picture of the lowest lumbar level where it meets the sacrum. The extra angles show the small facet joints and the openings the nerve roots pass through, detail the shorter two- or three-picture study cannot provide. Bending views, taken with the patient leaning forward and back to reveal instability, are handled by a further code.

## Selected release

- Release: Q3 2018 (2018 C)
- Effective: July 1 – September 30, 2018
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $49.68
- Facility national allowed amount: $49.68
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 0.31
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 1.04
- Facility practice expense RVU: 1.04
- Malpractice RVU: 0.03
- 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 (Q3 2018)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu18c1.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU18_JUL.csv, row 11,799
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/72110/2018/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/72110/2018/C
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:08:27+00:00