CPT code 36246: Selective catheterization, second-order branch2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Alabama

In Alabama, Medicare pays $707.78 for 36246 in the office and $203.35 when it’s performed in a hospital or facility.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 36246 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 36246 covers

This service covers advancing a catheter selectively into a second-order branch of the abdominal, pelvic, or lower-extremity arterial system. Interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and other physicians performing vascular procedures may use it to reach a target branch for diagnostic angiography or endovascular treatment in an angiography suite, catheterization laboratory, or operating room.

Choose the code according to the most selective branch reached in the vascular family: 36246 represents a second-order selection, while a third-order selection in that family is reported at the higher level. Document the access route, vascular family, target branch, and catheter position; catheter exchanges or imaging runs alone do not establish another selective placement. The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care. When multiple procedures occur in one session, Medicare pays the highest-valued procedure in full and other procedures at 50%. Modifier 50 for a bilateral procedure is paid at 150%. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this code; co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.

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 Alabama compares for 36246

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the office rate for 36246 runs from $696.40 in Arkansas to $1,064.64 in San Benito County, CA. Alabama pays $707.78. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

36246 rates by state

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

See 36246 in every payment locality

How the 36246 rate is calculated

Each of 36246’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 36246

The CMS indicators that decide how 36246 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 50

Codes related to 36246

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

How 36246 has changed in Alabama

Price 36246 for an earlier date of service

Where the Alabama rate applies

Alabama is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 595 cities and communities in Alabama. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Abanda
• Abbeville
• Adamsville
• Addison
• Akron
• Alabaster
• Albertville
• Alexander City

Browse all communities in Alabama

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