Billing code 48510: Pseudocyst drainageMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $1,043.78 for 48510 nationally in a facility.

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

What 48510 covers

This service is an operation to drain a pancreatic pseudocyst, a fluid collection that can develop after pancreatitis or pancreatic injury. A surgeon accesses the collection and evacuates its contents. It is generally performed in an operating room for a patient whose pseudocyst requires operative treatment; the operative report should establish that the target was a pancreatic pseudocyst and describe the drainage performed.

Select this code for drainage, not for removal of a pancreatic cyst or an operation that creates an anastomosis between the cyst and a hollow organ. Document the diagnosis, operative approach, and specific work performed. CMS assigns a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures occur in one session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% multiple-procedure reduction. Do not append modifier 50; the descriptor or anatomy makes bilateral adjustment inappropriate. Assistant-at-surgery payment may be available; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is 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 48510 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

48510 rates by state

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

How the 48510 rate is calculated

Each of 48510’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 48510

48510 has a 90-day global period: related visits in that window are included in the surgery payment.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

48510 compared with similar codes

How to choose

48500Pancreatic surgery

Code 48510 is for draining a pancreatic pseudocyst. Use 48500 when the documented service is surgery of a pancreatic cyst rather than drainage.

48520Cystogastrostomy

Code 48520 describes a cyst-to-bowel anastomosis for internal drainage. Distinguish it from drainage reported with 48510 by the specific operative technique.

48540Pancreatic cyst drainage

Like 48520, this code concerns a pancreatic cyst-to-bowel connection. Use 48510 when the operative report documents drainage without that anastomosis.

Codes related to 48510

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