CPT code 99448: Interprofessional consultation, 21–30 minutes2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $56.78 for 99448 nationally in the office and $47.76 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $52.69–$74.18.

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

What 99448 covers

A consulting physician uses this service to assess a patient’s clinical question by reviewing records, test results, or other relevant information and discussing recommendations with the treating or requesting clinician. The consultation is between clinicians rather than a direct patient visit. Common situations include a primary care clinician seeking specialist input on a complex rash from a record review or asking a cardiologist to advise on findings in the patient’s chart.

Report 99448 when the consultant’s qualifying work totals 21–30 minutes and includes both verbal communication and a written report to the treating or requesting clinician. Documentation should identify the clinical question, information reviewed, time spent, recommendations, and how the verbal and written responses were provided. The CMS physician fee schedule assigns work and practice-expense values to this service. The documented time distinguishes this code from the shorter and longer consultation levels.

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 99448 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

99448 rates by state

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

How the 99448 rate is calculated

Each of 99448’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 99448

99448 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.

99448 compared with similar codes

How to choose

99447Interprofessional consult11–20 minutes

Use 99447 for 11–20 minutes of qualifying consultant work; 99448 covers 21–30 minutes.

99449Interprofessional consult31 minutes or more

Use 99449 when qualifying consultant work reaches 31 minutes or more; 99448 is for 21–30 minutes.

99451E-consultWritten report, 5+ minutes

99451 is the consultant-service option with a written report and a different time threshold. 99448 requires both verbal communication and a written report for 21–30 minutes.

99452Referral coordinationRequesting clinician, 30 minutes

99452 describes the requesting clinician’s work preparing for and coordinating the referral; 99448 describes the consulting physician’s assessment and recommendations.

Codes related to 99448

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