CPT code 99315: Discharge management, 30 minutes or less2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $85.84 for 99315 nationally in the office and $73.15 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $79.77–$111.67.

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 99315 covers

This service covers the clinician’s work to complete a patient’s discharge from a nursing facility. It can include a final examination, discussion of the facility stay, instructions for care after discharge, and preparation of discharge records, prescriptions, or referral forms. Physicians and other qualified health care professionals commonly perform this work when a resident leaves for home or moves to another care setting.

Select this code when the total time spent on discharge management is 30 minutes or less; use 99316 when the time exceeds 30 minutes. Documentation should identify the discharge and describe the clinician’s discharge-related work and time. Routine nursing facility evaluation and management, such as an ongoing assessment of a resident who is not being discharged, is reported with the applicable nursing facility care code rather than this discharge service.

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 99315 pays more and less

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

109 of 109 payment localities

99315 rates by state

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

How the 99315 rate is calculated

Each of 99315’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 99315

99315 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.

99315 compared with similar codes

How to choose

99316Discharge managementMore than 30 minutes

Both codes cover nursing facility discharge management. Use 99315 for 30 minutes or less and 99316 when total time exceeds 30 minutes.

99307Nursing facility visitSubsequent visit, straightforward MDM

99307 is for subsequent nursing facility care during an ongoing stay. Use 99315 for discharge-day management when total time is 30 minutes or less.

99309Nursing facility visitSubsequent, moderate MDM or 30 minutes

99309 reports subsequent nursing facility care selected by medical decision making or time; 99315 reports discharge management based on total time.

Codes related to 99315

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