CPT code 38211: Tumor-cell depletion, stem cell harvest processing2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 38211 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 38211 covers

This service involves processing a collected hematopoietic progenitor cell product to reduce tumor-cell contamination before the product is used in a transplant. It is associated with transplant preparation for patients with malignancy and is performed by a specialized cell-processing laboratory working with the transplant team. The product being processed is the cell harvest, not a tumor specimen taken for diagnosis. This code distinguishes tumor-cell removal from other types of cell-product manipulation, such as removing T cells or red blood cells.

CPT 38211 has physician fee schedule status I, meaning Medicare does not accept this code as valid for reporting and payment. Medicare uses a different code to report and pay for the service; this CPT code should not be treated as the Medicare reporting code. The service concerns processing of the harvested product, rather than the collection or transplantation 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 38211 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 38211 rate is calculated

Each of 38211’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 38211

38211 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.

38211 compared with similar codes

How to choose

38210T-cell depletionHarvest processing

Code 38211 identifies tumor-cell depletion of the harvest; 38210 describes T-cell depletion.

38212RBC depletionStem-cell harvest

Code 38211 identifies tumor-cell depletion. Code 38212 describes red-cell depletion of the harvested product.

38213Platelet depletionStem cell harvest processing

Code 38213 describes platelet depletion, not removal of tumor cells from the harvest.

Codes related to 38211

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