CPT code 92544: Vestibular test2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $17.70 for 92544 nationally in the office. Local office rates run $16.20–$22.29.

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

What 92544 covers

The patient watches a moving visual pattern while a clinician observes or records the resulting rhythmic eye movements. The test examines how the eyes respond to visual motion and can help characterize oculomotor and vestibular function in patients evaluated for vertigo, imbalance, or suspected vestibular dysfunction. Audiologists and otolaryngology practices commonly perform it in a vestibular testing setting.

Report 92544 when optokinetic stimulation is performed as an individual test; distinguish it from smooth-pursuit tracking, which evaluates eye movement while following a target. Record the test performed and findings, including the patient’s eye-movement response to the visual stimulus. Medicare recognizes professional and technical components: use modifier 26 for interpretation, modifier TC for equipment and staff, or neither modifier when billing the global service. When the defined basic vestibular evaluation is reported with 92540, its component tests are not separately unbundled.

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 92544 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

92544 rates by state

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

How the 92544 rate is calculated

Each of 92544’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 92544

The CMS indicators that decide how 92544 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 26

92544 compared with similar codes

How to choose

92545Vestibular test

Choose 92544 for eye movements elicited by a moving visual field. Choose 92545 when testing the patient’s ability to track an oscillating target.

92541Nystagmus test

92541 evaluates spontaneous nystagmus, including with gaze and fixation conditions; 92544 evaluates the response to visual motion.

92542Positional nystagmus

92542 evaluates nystagmus associated with positional changes. 92544 uses a moving visual stimulus rather than a positional maneuver.

92540Vestibular evaluation

92540 represents the defined basic vestibular evaluation, which includes optokinetic testing among its component tests. Use 92544 for the individual optokinetic test when it is not part of that evaluation.

Codes related to 92544

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