HCPCS code Q9950: Sulfur hexafluoride, per mL2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Missouri
Reports sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres administered as ultrasound contrast, including during echocardiography and selected liver or urinary tract imaging.
CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for Q9950 in Missouri.
Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.
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What Q9950 covers
Q9950 identifies sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres used to enhance ultrasound images. Clinicians administer the agent during echocardiography to improve visualization of cardiac structures, or imaging teams may use it for liver lesion characterization and pediatric urinary tract ultrasound. The route depends on the examination: it is given intravenously for cardiac and liver imaging, and intravesically for certain pediatric urinary tract studies. The code represents the contrast agent, not the ultrasound examination itself.
CMS assigns status E, excluding Q9950 from the physician fee schedule by regulation. When Medicare covers the item, payment is made under another payment method; the HCPCS pricing method is other contractor pricing, so the Medicare contractor sets payment. Coverage is also left to the contractor’s judgment. Report the amount administered in milliliters: one unit represents 1 mL of the agent.
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 Q9950 pays more and less in Missouri
The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Kansas City, MO | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| Metropolitan St. Louis, MO | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| Rest of Missouri | Unavailable | Unavailable |
How the Q9950 rate is calculated
Each of Q9950’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.
How the rate is built · Q9950
RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor
Work0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Practice expense0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Malpractice0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Adjusted RVUs
0.0000
Conversion factor
$33.4009
Medicare rate
$0.00
Every GPCI starts at 1.000, the national rate. Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.
Payment rules and modifiers for Q9950
Q9950 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.
Place of service · Q9950
Which rate does Medicare pay?
The POS code on the claim line (CMS-1500 box 24B).
POS 11 · non-facility rate · national
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Q9950 isn’t priced in this setting.
Q9950 compared with similar codes
Compare codes · National
4 codes, side by side
How to choose
- Q9955Perflexane injectionPer milliliter
- Use Q9950 for sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres. Q9955 identifies perflexane lipid microspheres instead.
- Q9956Ultrasound contrastPer mL
- Q9950 identifies sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres; Q9956 identifies an octafluoropropane microsphere agent.
- Q9957Perflutren contrastPer ml
- Q9950 is for sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres. Q9957 is for perflutren lipid microspheres.
Q9950 billing questions
How many units represent the administered dose?
Each unit represents 1 mL. Report the number of milliliters administered.
Is Q9950 the code for the ultrasound examination?
No. It identifies the sulfur hexafluoride lipid microsphere contrast agent; the imaging service is identified separately.
How does Q9950 differ from Q9957?
Q9950 is for sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres. Q9957 identifies perflutren lipid microspheres, a different ultrasound contrast agent.
Does Medicare pay Q9950 under the physician fee schedule?
No. CMS assigns status E, excluding it from the physician fee schedule. When covered, payment is under another method, with the contractor setting payment.
Who determines whether Medicare covers Q9950?
Coverage is left to the Medicare contractor’s judgment.
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
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