Billing code 50553: Kidney endoscopyMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $402.81 for 50553 nationally in the office and $276.56 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $364.86–$500.83.

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

What 50553 covers

A urologist passes an endoscope through an established nephrostomy or pyelostomy tract to examine the kidney’s collecting system and catheterizes the ureter. The service may also include irrigation, aspiration, or dilation of the renal pelvis or ureter. It is typically performed in a procedural or operating-room setting when percutaneous access is already in place; this is not the code for creating a new access tract.

Select this code when the documented endoscopic service includes ureteral catheterization through the established access. The operative note should identify the access route, side, ureteral catheterization, and any irrigation, aspiration, or dilation performed. Biopsy, lesion treatment, calculus or foreign-body removal, and tumor resection have distinct codes in this family. CMS assigns a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. For multiple procedures in one session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Modifier 50 for a bilateral procedure is paid at 150%. Assistant-at-surgery payment is restricted; 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 50553 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

50553 rates by state

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

How the 50553 rate is calculated

Each of 50553’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 50553

The CMS indicators that decide how 50553 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 50

50553 compared with similar codes

How to choose

50551Renal endoscopy

50551 describes diagnostic endoscopy through established access. Choose 50553 when ureteral catheterization is part of the documented endoscopic service.

50555Kidney endoscopy

50555 applies when renal endoscopy through established access includes biopsy; 50553 describes ureteral catheterization without that biopsy service.

50561Renal endoscopy

50561 is for endoscopic removal of a calculus or foreign body through established access, rather than the catheterization service described by 50553.

50570Renal endoscopy

The access route distinguishes these services: 50553 uses an established nephrostomy or pyelostomy, while 50570 is for endoscopy through newly established access.

Codes related to 50553

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