Billing code 47540: Biliary stentMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $3,956.67 for 47540 nationally in the office and $376.43 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $3,429.19–$5,578.88.

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

What 47540 covers

An interventional radiologist or other physician with appropriate procedural training places a stent in the bile ducts through percutaneous access, commonly using imaging to guide the device across an obstructed or narrowed segment. The procedure is generally performed in a hospital or another setting equipped for image-guided biliary intervention. Diagnostic cholangiography may be performed as part of the stent procedure.

Select this code when the documented service meets its specific percutaneous stent-placement circumstances; distinguish it from biliary drainage catheter placement, exchange, or duct dilation. The record should identify the biliary access, target duct or obstruction, stent placement, and imaging performed. CMS assigns a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. When multiple procedures occur in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. CMS does not pay an assistant at surgery, and co-surgeon and team-surgery billing 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 47540 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

47540 rates by state

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

How the 47540 rate is calculated

Each of 47540’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 47540

The CMS indicators that decide how 47540 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

47540 compared with similar codes

How to choose

47538Biliary stent

Both codes concern percutaneous biliary stent placement. Use the code whose full descriptor matches the circumstances and device configuration documented for the procedure.

47539Biliary stent

This is a related percutaneous biliary stent code. Check its full descriptor against the documented stent and drainage-catheter circumstances before selecting between the codes.

47533Biliary drainage

47533 reports placement of an external biliary drainage catheter. Select 47540 when the documented service is the applicable percutaneous biliary stent placement.

47542Biliary dilation

47542 describes dilation of a biliary duct or ampulla. It is not a substitute for reporting the applicable stent-placement service.

Codes related to 47540

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