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Medicare payment locality · Q2 2025 release

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El Centro CA

MAC 01182 · Locality 71

This locality's GPCIs lift Medicare payments above the national average for the Q2 2025 Physician Fee Schedule. Every code below takes the national amount and rescales it by those three indexes.

Work GPCI
1.014
Tracks local physician wages and cost of living
Practice expense GPCI
1.093
Tracks local office costs like rent and staff
Malpractice GPCI
0.570
Tracks local malpractice insurance premiums

1.000 is the national baseline. Above raises that component; below lowers it.

Example rates in El Centro

National vs. El Centro non-facility amounts for common codes, Q2 2025 (before sequestration).

Code National El Centro Difference
0275T $0.00 $0.00
0446T $5,846.63 $6,386.10 +9.2%
0447T $95.42 $99.69 +4.5%
0448T $5,493.08 $5,997.03 +9.2%
0509T $73.10 $78.54 +7.4%
10004 $51.75 $52.32 +1.1%
10005 $129.06 $134.63 +4.3%
10006 $58.22 $59.39 +2.0%
10007 $294.03 $312.86 +6.4%
10008 $137.47 $144.54 +5.1%

Need a specific code or a facility rate? Use the rate calculator with this locality selected. Or start from your field's usual procedure mix on the specialty fee schedules.

ZIP codes in this locality

El Centro covers 17 ZIP codes across CA, per the CMS ZIP-to-locality crosswalk (Q3 2026).

92222 92227 92231 92232 92233 92243 92244 92249 92250 92251 92257 92259 +5 more

Not sure which locality your ZIP is in? Look it up by ZIP code.

Common questions

Why do Medicare rates in El Centro differ from the national amount?

Medicare scales each code's work, practice-expense, and malpractice RVUs by this locality's three GPCIs before applying the conversion factor. Local labor, rent, and liability costs therefore move the final amount up or down. El Centro currently pays above the national average for the Q2 2025 release.

How do I know if my address is in this locality?

Medicare assigns localities by ZIP code rather than by city or county lines, so neighboring addresses can fall in different localities. Look up your ZIP to find your locality. A few ZIPs nationally span multiple localities and need ZIP+4 to resolve exactly.

Do commercial insurers or Medicare Advantage plans use this locality?

No. Medicare payment localities belong to Original Medicare's Physician Fee Schedule alone. Medicare Advantage plans and commercial insurers set their own geographic adjustments and negotiated network rates. They're free to draw their own boundaries, though many still benchmark off the Medicare amount.

Does my locality affect what I owe as a patient?

Yes. Original Medicare calculates your 20% coinsurance on the locality-adjusted amount rather than the national one. The same code can therefore leave you owing more or less depending on where you're treated. El Centro pays above the national average, so patients here typically owe a bit more in coinsurance than the national amount would suggest.

Why did my Medicare payment change even though I didn't change what I billed?

GPCIs and the conversion factor update with each quarterly CMS release (January, April, July, October). The same code in the same locality can therefore pay a different amount quarter to quarter, with nothing on your end changing. See what changed each release.

Source & method

GPCIs and rates computed from the CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Q2 2025 release (effective April 2025). ZIP coverage from the CMS ZIP-to-locality crosswalk, Q3 2026 release. Example amounts take the national non-facility figures and rescale them by this locality's GPCIs, before the ~2% sequestration cut. Releases are immutable: a rate retrieved for a past quarter always reflects that release.

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