CPT code 44500: GI tube placement, long intestinal tube2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Minnesota

In Minnesota, Medicare pays $15.49 for 44500 in a facility. There’s no office rate.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 44500 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 44500 covers

A physician or other qualified practitioner introduces a long tube through the nose or mouth and advances it into the gastrointestinal tract, commonly into the small intestine. The tube may be used to decompress the bowel or to provide access for a diagnostic study such as enteroclysis. This is distinct from placing a routine nasogastric tube that terminates in the stomach. The service is commonly performed in a hospital or other facility when intestinal access is needed.

Report 44500 for the long-tube introduction itself, not simply because a tube is present. Documentation should identify the tube and route, the intended destination, and the clinical purpose; when applicable, it should also describe the placement work. The code has a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this service. Assistant-at-surgery payment requires documentation of medical necessity; 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 Minnesota compares for 44500

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the facility rate for 44500 runs from $15.34 in Wisconsin to $22.26 in Alaska. Minnesota pays $15.49. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

44500 rates by state

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

See 44500 in every payment locality

How the 44500 rate is calculated

Each of 44500’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 44500

The CMS indicators that decide how 44500 is paid alongside other services.

Codes related to 44500

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

How 44500 has changed in Minnesota

Price 44500 for an earlier date of service

Where the Minnesota rate applies

Minnesota is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 916 cities and communities in Minnesota. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Ada
• Adams
• Adrian
• Afton
• Aitkin
• Akeley
• Albany
• Albert Lea

Browse all communities in Minnesota

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