Billing code 78201: Liver imagingMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $171.68 for 78201 nationally in the office. Local office rates run $148.81–$240.98.

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

What 78201 covers

78201 represents a radionuclide study that produces static images focused on the liver, without vascular-flow imaging. Nuclear medicine staff acquire the images, and a nuclear medicine physician interprets findings such as hepatic distribution, contour, or focal abnormalities. The study may be performed in a hospital imaging department or outpatient nuclear medicine facility when the clinical question calls for static liver scintigraphy rather than evaluation of biliary transit.

Select the code from the documented protocol and images: report 78201 for static liver imaging alone, 78202 when vascular-flow imaging is included, and 78215 or 78216 when the study also images the spleen. The order, imaging record, and interpretation should support the liver-only static examination. CMS recognizes separately priced professional and technical components: use modifier 26 for the interpretation and modifier TC for the equipment and staff; billing without either modifier represents the global service.

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 78201 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

78201 rates by state

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

How the 78201 rate is calculated

Each of 78201’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 78201

The CMS indicators that decide how 78201 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 26

78201 compared with similar codes

How to choose

78202Liver imaging

Choose 78201 for static liver images alone; choose 78202 when vascular-flow imaging is part of the examination.

78215Liver-spleen scan

78215 covers static imaging of both the liver and spleen, while 78201 is limited to liver imaging.

78216Liver-spleen scan

78216 includes liver and spleen imaging with vascular-flow imaging; 78201 is static liver imaging alone.

78226Hepatobiliary imaging

78226 is for hepatobiliary system imaging, addressing biliary function or transit rather than static liver imaging alone.

Codes related to 78201

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