HCPCS code Q9957: Perflutren contrast, per ml2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for Q9957 in California.

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

What Q9957 covers

Perflutren lipid microspheres are an intravenously administered ultrasound contrast agent used during echocardiography to improve visualization of cardiac structures, including chamber opacification and endocardial borders. Echocardiography services using this agent may be performed in hospital imaging departments or outpatient cardiology settings. The contrast material is distinct from the echocardiographic imaging service, which is reported with its own procedure code.

Q9957 identifies the agent by volume, with one unit representing 1 mL. CMS assigns physician fee schedule status E, excluding the code from that schedule by regulation. When Medicare covers the item, payment is made under another method; HCPCS pricing is other contractor pricing, meaning the Medicare contractor sets payment. Coverage is left to the Medicare contractor’s judgment. Report the number of units corresponding to the volume administered.

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 Q9957 pays more and less in California

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

29 of 29 payment localities

How the Q9957 rate is calculated

Each of Q9957’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 Q9957

Q9957 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.

Q9957 compared with similar codes

How to choose

Q9950Sulfur hexafluoridePer mL

Use Q9957 for perflutren lipid microspheres; Q9950 identifies sulfur hexafluoride lipid microspheres.

Q9955Perflexane injectionPer milliliter

Q9955 identifies perflexane lipid microspheres. Q9957 identifies perflutren lipid microspheres.

Q9956Ultrasound contrastPer mL

Q9956 identifies octafluoropropane microspheres. Choose Q9957 when the administered agent is perflutren lipid microspheres.

Codes related to Q9957

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