CPT code 38208: Stem cell thawing, before clinical use2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 38208 in California.

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

What 38208 covers

Code 38208 identifies thawing a preserved stem cell product before clinical use. Thawing prepares stored cells for administration and is a product-processing step, distinct from collecting cells, freezing them for storage, washing a harvest, or performing a transplant. The product may contain autologous cells collected from the patient or allogeneic cells from a donor. Cell-processing laboratory personnel handle the product, while the transplant team coordinates its preparation and administration in the transplant setting.

Medicare assigns 38208 status I: the code is not valid for Medicare reporting, and Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for this service. Do not submit 38208 as the Medicare service code. It identifies thawing rather than cell collection, another processing step, or the transplant procedure itself.

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.

Where 38208 pays more and less in California

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

29 of 29 payment localities

How the 38208 rate is calculated

Each of 38208’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 38208

38208 has no global surgery period, no multiple-procedure, bilateral or assistant-at-surgery adjustment, and no professional/technical split. What changes the payment is where the service happens: the place of service on the claim decides whether Medicare pays the office or the facility rate.

38208 compared with similar codes

How to choose

38207Stem cell cryopreservationFreezing-based preservation

Code 38207 describes cryopreservation, or freezing cells for storage. Code 38208 describes thawing a preserved product.

38209Stem cell washingHarvested cell product

Code 38209 describes washing a stem cell harvest; 38208 describes thawing a preserved product. They identify different processing steps.

38240Cell transplantAllogeneic, per donor

Code 38240 identifies an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant service, not thawing. Code 38208 identifies the product-processing step.

38241Cell transplantAutologous cells

Code 38241 identifies an autologous hematopoietic cell transplant service, not thawing. Code 38208 identifies the product-processing step.

Codes related to 38208

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

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