CPT code 97550: Caregiver training, initial 30 minutes2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in North Carolina

In North Carolina, Medicare pays $51.38 for 97550 in the office and $39.22 when it’s performed in a hospital or facility.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 97550 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 97550 covers

A qualified health professional trains a caregiver in practical strategies for supporting a patient's function at home or in the community. The patient is not present during this face-to-face service. Training may address safe transfers, mobility, dressing and other daily activities, communication, feeding, swallowing, problem-solving, or safety practices. For example, an occupational therapist may teach a family member how to assist a patient with dressing and transfers after a stroke. Physical and speech-language therapists may also provide training within their areas of practice, in an outpatient clinic or rehabilitation setting.

Report 97550 for the initial 30 minutes of individual caregiver training. Use 97551 for qualifying additional training time, and use 97552 when the caregiver training is provided to a group. Documentation should identify the caregiver, the patient's functional need, the strategies taught, and the face-to-face training time. The physician fee schedule values the service through work, practice-expense, and malpractice components.

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 North Carolina compares for 97550

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the office rate for 97550 runs from $49.93 in Arkansas to $70.56 in Alaska. North Carolina pays $51.38. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

97550 rates by state

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

See 97550 in every payment locality

How the 97550 rate is calculated

Each of 97550’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 97550

97550 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.

Codes related to 97550

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

How 97550 has changed in North Carolina

Price 97550 for an earlier date of service

Where the North Carolina rate applies

North Carolina is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 785 cities and communities in North Carolina. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Aberdeen
• Advance
• Ahoskie
• Alamance
• Albemarle
• Alexis
• Alliance
• Altamahaw

Browse all communities in North Carolina

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