Billing code 37197: Foreign body retrievalMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $1,478.99 for 37197 nationally in the office and $264.54 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $1,286.01–$2,035.31.

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

What 37197 covers

This service removes a loose object from the vascular system through an endovascular approach, commonly using a catheter and snare under fluoroscopic guidance. A typical case is retrieval of a fractured catheter fragment that has migrated into a central vein or the heart. Interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and other physicians with endovascular expertise may perform it in a hospital or outpatient procedural setting. The procedure includes radiological supervision and interpretation and imaging guidance when performed.

Report the code when the physician retrieves an intravascular foreign body, rather than removing a vena cava filter or clearing material around a catheter. The operative report should identify the object and its location, the retrieval approach, and the imaging and steps used to capture or remove it. The service has a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. When multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and the others are subject to the standard 50% multiple procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Assistant-at-surgery payment requires documented medical necessity; co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.

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 37197 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

37197 rates by state

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

How the 37197 rate is calculated

Each of 37197’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 37197

The CMS indicators that decide how 37197 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

37197 compared with similar codes

How to choose

36596Catheter declotting

This code is specific to percutaneous retrieval of a foreign body from a central venous catheter. Code 37197 describes endovascular retrieval of an intravascular foreign body outside that specific service.

37193Filter retrieval

Use 37193 to remove an inferior vena cava filter. Use 37197 to retrieve another intravascular foreign body, such as a migrated catheter fragment.

36595Catheter removal

Code 36595 addresses mechanical removal of obstructive material around a central venous catheter. It is not the code for retrieving a loose intravascular foreign body.

Codes related to 37197

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