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Describe a service in plain words, or type a CPT/HCPCS code.

CPT 99449

Bundled / not separately paid

99449 · PFS Q1 2018 · Historical

No national PFS rate in Q1 2018

Status B is not separately payable under the PFS.

View applicable payment rules

CPT 99449 has no published national rate. It carries status B (bundled) in the Q1 2018 release. Medicare folds payment for this code into the service it is incident to, never onto its own line. The blank amount means unpriced, not $0.

PFS status evidence

Physician relative value file (Q1 2018) · rvu18ar1.zip (PPRRVU18_JAN.csv row 16,594)
Inspect PFS status evidence
Code
99449
Release
Q1 2018, revision 3
Result
Bundled / not separately paid

Citations

  • Shows this code’s PFS status (B). Result: Bundled / not separately paid.

    Physician relative value file (PPRRVU)

    Q1 2018 · revision 3

    Latest revision of this release

    Release period: January 1 – March 31, 2018

    This PFS record alone does not establish a $0 allowance or a coverage determination. Any amount from another schedule needs its own evidence.

    Record details PPRRVU18_JAN.csv in rvu18ar1.zip (row 16,594)
    hcpcs (col 1)
    99449
    modifier (col 2)
    blank
    status_code (col 4)
    B

    SHA-256: b2c0cf1c065aa6f715438573eb2251381843a90991cf56818aaf33301c43c932

    Original source file

Plain-text summary

Why is there no national PFS amount for 99449?

Its status indicator is B (bundled). Medicare folds payment for this code into the service it is incident to, never onto its own line. Status B is not separately payable under the PFS.

Payment considerations Copy link

Here are the inputs and payment rules that apply to this code. Each link takes you to the detail below.

Other payment indicators (10)

Facility/non-facility: Not determined, Professional/technical component: Does not apply, Bilateral adjustment: Does not apply, Multiple-procedure reduction: Does not apply, Assistant/co-surgeon treatment: Does not apply, Global surgery: Does not apply, NCCI same-day edits: Not determined, MUE behavior: Not determined, Other fee-schedule routing: Does not apply, Contractor pricing: Does not apply.

Why would a Medicare claim for 99449 be denied or paid less?

These come from CMS indicators on this page, not general billing advice.

  • Its status indicator is B (bundled)—Medicare folds payment for this code into the service it is incident to, never onto its own line. See status indicators

Payer-specific coverage and documentation rules live outside these files, so a claim that clears every check here can still be denied on other grounds.

Why a 99449 line may not pay separately Copy link

CMS publishes no separately payable amount for 99449 in this release, so reconciling the line means establishing which status governed the date of service rather than chasing a fee-schedule difference.

What to check

  • Confirm the status that governed the date of service before working this line as a short payment—CMS publishes no separately payable fee-schedule amount for it in this release.
  • Check the place of service: CMS publishes no Office (non-facility) practice-expense amount for this code, so it prices in a Facility setting only.
  • Reprice the line against the release, locality, setting, modifier and participation status that applied to the date of service before treating any difference as an underpayment.

Codes to compare

National Q1 2018 amounts at GPCI 1.000. A blank means this schedule does not publish a payable PFS amount.

Code Office Facility
99448 Nearby evaluation and management line in the same release — —
99447 Nearby evaluation and management line in the same release — —
99446 Nearby evaluation and management line in the same release — —

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files; CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files (status indicator field); CMS Practice Expense methodology (cms.gov).

Which billing rules and modifiers apply? Copy link

Global period: what 99449's fee already covers Copy link

XXX Does not apply

The global surgery concept does not apply to this code.

Can you bill it with another code? Copy link

Check a pair of codes Copy link

Enter a second CPT or HCPCS code billed on the same date of service. We'll check the current NCCI procedure-to-procedure edit for the pair.

See every current NCCI pair for 99449 →

How has it changed? Copy link

Rate history by release Copy link

National Office (non-facility) amount for 99449 across quarterly releases. +4.6% increase since Q1 2019 · peak $76.15 in Q1 2026

Q1 2019 · $72.80 Q2 2019 · $72.80 (0.0%) Q3 2019 · $72.80 (0.0%) Q4 2019 · $72.80 (0.0%) Q1 2020 · $73.98 (+1.6%) Q2 2020 · $73.98 (0.0%) Q3 2020 · $73.98 (0.0%) Q4 2020 · $73.98 (0.0%) Q1 2021 · $73.28 (-0.9%) Q2 2021 · $73.28 (0.0%) Q3 2021 · $73.28 (0.0%) Q4 2021 · $73.28 (0.0%) Q1 2022 · $73.71 (+0.6%) Q2 2022 · $73.71 (0.0%) Q3 2022 · $73.71 (0.0%) Q4 2022 · $73.71 (0.0%) Q1 2023 · $71.84 (-2.5%) Q2 2023 · $71.84 (0.0%) Q3 2023 · $71.84 (0.0%) Q4 2023 · $71.84 (0.0%) Q1 2024 · $69.75 (-2.9%) Q1 2024 · $70.90 (+1.6%) Q2 2024 · $70.90 (0.0%) Q3 2024 · $70.90 (0.0%) Q4 2024 · $70.90 (0.0%) Q1 2025 · $69.54 (-1.9%) Q2 2025 · $69.54 (0.0%) Q3 2025 · $69.54 (0.0%) Q4 2025 · $69.54 (0.0%) Q1 2026 · $76.15 (+9.5%) Q2 2026 · $76.15 (0.0%) Q3 2026 · $76.15 (0.0%) Q4 2026 · $76.15 (0.0%)
Office (non-facility) Facility
Release Status Office Facility
Q4 2026 takes effect Oct 1, 2026 A $76.15 (0.0% no change ) $63.46 (0.0% no change )
When does this rate change?

CMS publishes a fee schedule release every quarter (January, April, July, October), and each is versioned here. See what changed each release, or get an email when a new release moves rates.

The 99449 rate last moved in Q1 2026. See its rate history.

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files.

Usage and related codes Copy link

How often 99449 is billed Copy link

Across Original Medicare in CY2024, 99449 ranked #2,831 of the 7,879 CPT codes billed to Medicare that year, by patients served or total allowed dollars.

Beneficiaries
5,352
Office + facility beneficiaries combined
Services
5,967
Times it was billed
Allowed
$421,263
Total Medicare allowed dollars

2024 Medicare fee-for-service national totals. They exclude Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial volume, so real-world use runs higher. This is a calendar-year snapshot from the CMS Physician & Other Practitioners dataset, on a different cycle from the Q1 2018 fee schedule above.

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Source & method

Show sources

This page uses CMS's Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Q1 2018 release (effective January 2018). National baselines use GPCI 1.000 and exclude sequestration. Whether a national amount exists depends on the status and CMS’s payment instructions; blank RVUs are never treated as zero. Past releases are never edited, so these sources stay valid after CMS publishes a newer one. Our methodology explains sourcing, parsing, versioning, and how we cross-check claims before we publish them.

Physician relative value file (Q1 2018) · rvu18ar1.zip (PPRRVU18_JAN.csv row 16,594)

Use the (i) buttons next to each amount above for the exact row, columns, and math.

Cite this rate

The citation names the release, so anyone can check it even after CMS publishes a newer one.

CPT 99449 National PFS baseline: No national PFS rate (Q1 2018; participating; whole service; GPCI 1.000; sequestration excluded). Localis. https://localishealth.com/cpt/99449/2018/A