CPT code 20610: Joint injection, major joint or bursa, no ultrasound2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Arkansas

In Arkansas, Medicare pays $61.24 for 20610 in the office and $36.28 when it’s performed in a hospital or facility.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 20610 nationwide

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 20610 covers

Code 20610 covers needle aspiration, injection, or both in a major joint or bursa, including the knee, glenohumeral joint, hip, subacromial bursa, and trochanteric bursa. A clinician may drain a knee effusion for cell count or crystal testing or inject medication into a painful joint or bursa. Orthopedists, rheumatologists, sports medicine and primary care clinicians, and advanced practice providers commonly perform it in offices. They may use palpable landmarks or separately reportable non-ultrasound imaging guidance.

Report one unit for each distinct major joint or bursa treated in a session; aspiration followed by injection of the same site remains one unit. Document the target and side, procedure performed, aspirated fluid when applicable, and injected drug and dose. Report separately payable, provider-supplied drugs with the appropriate HCPCS code and administered units. CMS assigns a 0-day global period that includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care; a significant, separately identifiable E/M requires modifier 25 on the E/M code. For multiple procedures in one session, CMS pays the highest-valued in full and others at 50%; bilateral procedures reported with modifier 50 pay at 150%. CMS does not pay an assistant at surgery or permit co-surgeons or team surgery for this code.

This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.

How Arkansas compares for 20610

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the office rate for 20610 runs from $61.24 in Arkansas to $86.75 in San Benito County, CA. Arkansas pays $61.24. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

20610 rates by state

Office rate range in each state. Select a state to see its payment localities.

See 20610 in every payment locality

How the 20610 rate is calculated

Each of 20610’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.

Payment rules and modifiers for 20610

The CMS indicators that decide how 20610 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 50

Codes related to 20610

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

How 20610 has changed in Arkansas

Price 20610 for an earlier date of service

Where the Arkansas rate applies

Arkansas is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 626 cities and communities in Arkansas. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Acorn
• Adona
• Alexander
• Alicia
• Alix
• Alleene
• Allport
• Alma

Browse all communities in Arkansas

Where these rates come from

FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.

CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates