Billing code 78306: Bone imagingMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $259.19 for 78306 nationally in the office. Local office rates run $225.68–$362.02.

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

What 78306 covers

This service is a whole-body skeletal scan using a radiopharmaceutical that accumulates in areas of bone turnover. Nuclear medicine technologists acquire the images, and a nuclear medicine physician or other qualified physician interprets them. Common clinical uses include surveying for skeletal metastases, such as during cancer evaluation, and assessing multifocal or unexplained bone abnormalities. The scan may be performed in a hospital or an imaging center.

Select 78306 when the documented imaging covers the whole body, rather than a limited region or multiple selected areas. The report should support the extent of imaging and the clinical interpretation. The code may be billed globally, or the professional interpretation may be reported with modifier 26 and the technical service with modifier TC. Medicare’s diagnostic imaging multiple procedure reduction applies to both the technical and professional components when applicable.

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 78306 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

78306 rates by state

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

How the 78306 rate is calculated

Each of 78306’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 78306

The CMS indicators that decide how 78306 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 26

78306 compared with similar codes

How to choose

78300Bone scan

Use 78300 when imaging is limited to a specific area, such as one region of concern. 78306 is for a whole-body skeletal survey.

78305Bone imaging

78305 covers multiple selected areas; 78306 covers the whole body. The documented extent of the scan distinguishes them.

78315Bone imaging

78315 identifies a three-phase bone study with sequential imaging phases. 78306 identifies whole-body coverage, not a three-phase protocol.

Codes related to 78306

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