HCPCS code G0443: Alcohol counseling, brief behavioral service2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Vermont

In Vermont, Medicare pays $33.61 for G0443 in the office and $25.68 when it’s performed in a hospital or facility.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · G0443 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 G0443 covers

G0443 captures a brief, face-to-face counseling encounter focused on alcohol misuse, generally provided in primary care after a patient screens positive. The clinician discusses the patient’s alcohol use and offers behavioral guidance aimed at reducing risky consumption. This is counseling, not the screening questionnaire or screening conversation alone, and the service is timed for 15 minutes.

Choose G0443 when the documented service is the counseling intervention; use G0442 for the annual alcohol misuse screen itself. Record the screening result, counseling topics and recommendations, and the time spent in the face-to-face service. CMS assigns physician-work, practice-expense, and malpractice relative values, with separate office and facility practice-expense inputs. The claim should reflect counseling actually furnished rather than screening alone.

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 Vermont compares for G0443

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the office rate for G0443 runs from $31.92 in Arkansas to $44.67 in Alaska. Vermont pays $33.61. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

G0443 rates by state

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

See G0443 in every payment locality

How the G0443 rate is calculated

Each of G0443’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 G0443

G0443 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 G0443

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

How G0443 has changed in Vermont

Price G0443 for an earlier date of service

Where the Vermont rate applies

Vermont is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 180 cities and communities in Vermont. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• Albany
• Alburgh
• Algiers
• Arlington
• Ascutney
• Bakersfield
• Barnet
• Barre

Browse all communities in Vermont

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