Billing code 76826: Fetal echoMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $158.32 for 76826 nationally in the office. Local office rates run $139.24–$217.80.

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

What 76826 covers

Code 76826 represents a repeat or follow-up ultrasound examination focused on the fetal heart, using real-time two-dimensional imaging and M-mode when performed. A fetal cardiologist, maternal-fetal medicine specialist, or radiologist may perform or interpret the study in an office, hospital, or imaging setting. Typical reasons include reassessing a cardiac finding identified on an earlier fetal echocardiogram or completing a cardiac assessment that required follow-up.

Choose this code for a repeat or follow-up cardiac imaging study, rather than a complete fetal echocardiogram or a routine obstetric growth examination. The report should identify the reason for the repeat, the cardiac structures or findings reassessed, and the interpretation. For physician interpretation alone, append modifier 26; for the equipment and staff portion alone, append modifier TC. Without either modifier, the claim represents the global service. Spectral Doppler follow-up, when performed and documented, is represented separately by 76828.

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 76826 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

76826 rates by state

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

How the 76826 rate is calculated

Each of 76826’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 76826

The CMS indicators that decide how 76826 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 26

76826 compared with similar codes

How to choose

76825Fetal echocardiogram

Use 76825 for a complete fetal echocardiographic examination; use 76826 when the cardiac imaging is a repeat or follow-up study.

76828Fetal echo

76828 reports follow-up or repeat fetal spectral Doppler echocardiography. It may accompany 76826 when that Doppler evaluation is also performed and documented.

76816Obstetric ultrasound

76816 is an obstetric follow-up examination per fetus, commonly used to reassess fetal growth or development. It is not the focused repeat fetal cardiac study represented by 76826.

Codes related to 76826

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