CPT code 78494: Cardiac blood-pool imaging, gated SPECT2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Virginia

In Virginia, Medicare pays $207.33 for 78494 in the office.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 78494 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 78494 covers

This study uses a radiotracer in the circulating blood and ECG gating to create tomographic images of the heart across the cardiac cycle. It helps assess ventricular function and wall motion, including left ventricular function monitoring in patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Nuclear medicine physicians or other qualified imaging professionals typically perform and interpret the study in hospital or outpatient imaging settings. Unlike myocardial perfusion SPECT, it images the blood pool rather than tracer uptake in heart muscle.

Report 78494 when the documented acquisition is gated equilibrium cardiac blood-pool SPECT. The record should support the cardiac indication, the SPECT blood-pool technique, and the physician’s interpretation. The code has professional and technical components: modifier 26 identifies interpretation, modifier TC identifies equipment and staff, and no component modifier represents the global service. CMS applies the cardiovascular diagnostic multiple-procedure reduction to the technical component when the rule applies; it does not reduce the professional component under this rule.

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 Virginia compares for 78494

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the office rate for 78494 runs from $185.76 in Arkansas to $288.81 in San Benito County, CA. Virginia pays $207.33. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

78494 rates by state

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

See 78494 in every payment locality

How the 78494 rate is calculated

Each of 78494’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 78494

The CMS indicators that decide how 78494 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 26

Codes related to 78494

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

How 78494 has changed in Virginia

Price 78494 for an earlier date of service

Where the Virginia rate applies

Virginia is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 628 cities and communities in Virginia. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Abbs Valley
• Abingdon
• Accomac
• Adwolf
• Afton
• Alberta
• Aldie
• Allison Gap

Browse all communities in Virginia

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