HCPCS code A9557: Tc-99m bicisate, per study dose2026 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 A9557 covers

Technetium-99m bicisate is an intravenously administered imaging agent used for cerebral perfusion imaging, most commonly with SPECT. Nuclear medicine teams use it to show patterns of blood flow in the brain during evaluations such as suspected stroke, seizures, or cognitive disorders. The radiopharmaceutical is administered before image acquisition; the imaging service itself is distinct from the supplied dose.

Medicare assigns this code physician fee schedule status C, or carrier priced: CMS publishes no national payment, and the Medicare contractor sets payment for each claim. The HCPCS pricing method is other contractor pricing, and coverage is left to the contractor’s judgment. One unit represents a diagnostic study dose up to 25 millicuries, not a per-millicurie amount.

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 A9557 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

A9557 rates by state

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

How the A9557 rate is calculated

Each of A9557’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 A9557

A9557 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.

A9557 compared with similar codes

How to choose

A9552FDGPer study dose

A9552 identifies fluorodeoxyglucose used for PET imaging. A9557 identifies technetium-99m bicisate used for cerebral perfusion imaging, typically SPECT.

A9550Tc-99m gluceptatePer study dose

A9550 identifies technetium-99m gluceptate, a different radiopharmaceutical. Select the code for the agent supplied; it is not interchangeable with bicisate.

A9556Gallium-67 citratePer millicurie

A9556 identifies gallium-67, not technetium-99m bicisate. The codes represent different radiopharmaceuticals and are selected according to the agent used.

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