CPT code 38530: Lymph node biopsy, internal mammary nodes2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Delaware

In Delaware, Medicare pays $523.87 for 38530 in a facility. There’s no office rate.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 38530 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 38530 covers

This code describes an open operation to sample or remove one or more internal mammary lymph nodes, located along the internal thoracic vessels behind the anterior chest wall. A surgeon, commonly a breast or thoracic surgeon, performs the procedure in an operating room when tissue from this specific nodal basin is needed for diagnosis or staging. The approach involves surgical exposure, rather than needle sampling or removal of an axillary, cervical, or superficial node.

Choose the code based on the documented internal mammary site and open technique. The operative report should identify the side, nodal basin, approach, and tissue sampled or removed. CMS assigns a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures occur in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and others at 50%. Bilateral reporting with modifier 50 is paid at 150%. Assistant-at-surgery payment may be made; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is 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 Delaware compares for 38530

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the facility rate for 38530 runs from $474.43 in Arkansas to $653.83 in Alaska. Delaware pays $523.87. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

38530 rates by state

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

See 38530 in every payment locality

How the 38530 rate is calculated

Each of 38530’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 38530

38530 has a 90-day global period: related visits in that window are included in the surgery payment.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 50

Codes related to 38530

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

How 38530 has changed in Delaware

Price 38530 for an earlier date of service

Where the Delaware rate applies

Delaware is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 79 cities and communities in Delaware. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Arden
• Ardencroft
• Ardentown
• Bear
• Bellefonte
• Bethany Beach
• Bethel
• Blades

Browse all communities in Delaware

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