HCPCS code A9509: Iodine I-123, per millicurie2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

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

What A9509 covers

Iodine I-123 sodium iodide is a diagnostic radiopharmaceutical used for thyroid uptake measurement and thyroid imaging. A nuclear medicine service administers it, typically by mouth, before the uptake measurement or imaging. A9509 identifies the radiopharmaceutical, not the imaging or uptake procedure itself.

Medicare assigns A9509 physician fee schedule status C: CMS publishes no national payment, and the Medicare Administrative Contractor sets payment for each claim. The HCPCS pricing method is contractor pricing, and coverage is left to the contractor’s judgment. Report the quantity in millicuries; one unit represents one millicurie of iodine I-123 sodium iodide. Choose the code by the radiopharmaceutical and its dose unit; thyroid imaging alone does not determine the drug code.

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 A9509 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

A9509 rates by state

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

How the A9509 rate is calculated

Each of A9509’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 A9509

A9509 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.

A9509 compared with similar codes

How to choose

A9516Iodine-123 sodium iodidePer 100 microcuries

Both codes describe iodine I-123 sodium iodide, but A9516 uses a microcurie reporting unit; A9509 uses a millicurie reporting unit.

A9528Iodine-131 capsuleDiagnostic, per millicurie

A9528 identifies diagnostic iodine-131 iodide in capsule form. A9509 identifies iodine-123 sodium iodide, so the isotope and product determine the choice.

A9529I-131 sodium iodideDiagnostic solution, per mCi

A9529 is diagnostic iodine-131 iodide in solution. A9509 is iodine-123 sodium iodide, a different isotope and radiopharmaceutical.

Codes related to A9509

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