$6.48–$9.63
Diathermy uses electromagnetic energy and is a supervised, untimed modality. Therapeutic ultrasound uses sound waves applied with a handheld transducer and is reported in timed units.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
97035 Therapeutic ultrasound Medicare reimbursement rates
Therapeutic ultrasound applies acoustic energy to soft tissue with a clinician in constant attendance and is reported in timed 15-minute units. Compare 97035 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities.
Amounts below use the non-QP conversion factor for participating physicians. These are base physician payments before claim-level adjustments, not patient costs or total hospital charges.
What does Medicare pay for 97035?
The service location and office or facility setting determine which base rate applies. These are the supported base rates for the 109 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$13.21–$18.18
109 of 109 localities have a supported rate.
Facility setting
No supported rate
These are locality ranges, not averages or address-specific quotes. A facility-setting amount covers the physician service; it does not include a hospital’s separate bill. Choose a locality below to inspect its calculation, compare other payment areas, or price a percentage of Medicare.
Where 97035 pays more and less
109 payment localities
$13.21 to $18.18
Physical medicine modality
About 97035: Attended therapeutic ultrasound, each 15 minutes
Therapeutic ultrasound applies acoustic energy to soft tissue with a clinician in constant attendance and is reported in timed 15-minute units.
Therapeutic ultrasound delivers acoustic energy to soft tissue through coupling gel and a moving handheld transducer. Physical therapists, occupational therapists, their assistants, and physicians may use it for localized tendon or muscle symptoms and joint stiffness, commonly in office-based outpatient therapy. The treating clinician remains with the patient throughout application rather than leaving a device running unattended. Phonophoresis, in which ultrasound helps deliver a topical medication, is reported with this code when ultrasound is the delivery method.
Assign 15-minute units using Medicare's timed-service rules, including total timed-treatment minutes when other timed services occur during the visit. Record the actual ultrasound minutes, treated area, treatment settings, and skilled purpose linked to the therapy plan. Use the therapy discipline modifier, GP, GO, or GN, as appropriate. This therapy service has no separately reportable professional or technical component; modifiers 26 and TC are not used. Under the therapy multiple procedure payment reduction, Medicare reduces the practice-expense portion for the second and subsequent therapy units on the same day.
CMS billing rules for 97035
- Professional and technical components
- Therapy service: the professional component modifier does not apply.
- Multiple procedures
- Therapy multiple procedure payment reduction: practice expense is reduced for the second and later therapy units on the same day.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU0.21 · 49%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.21 · 49%
- Malpractice RVU0.01 · 2%
1.1M
Medicare services in 2024 · #137 by national volume
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.
97035 compared with similar codes
Office rate ranges across all CMS payment localities, from the same CMS release.
$17.46–$24.27
Choose iontophoresis when electrical current delivers medication. Choose therapeutic ultrasound when sound waves deliver the medication, as in phonophoresis, or when ultrasound is applied without medication.
$13.69–$19.11
Attended electrical stimulation applies current and requires constant clinician attendance. Therapeutic ultrasound applies acoustic energy through a moving transducer; do not assign the same treatment minutes to both codes.
$57.67–$83.53
Code 76882 is a limited diagnostic ultrasound examination of an extremity that produces images for interpretation. Therapeutic ultrasound treats tissue rather than producing diagnostic images.
See how rates vary across the country
97035 · Office / nonfacility · Non-QP. Choose a state to explore its payment localities. A range means the amount varies within that state.
Explore a state
Local rates. Clear comparisons.
Hover or focus a tile to see its rate range. Select it to open the state’s fee schedule.
$13.21
$18.18
Color shows the midpoint of each state’s locality range.
View all state and territory rates as a table
| State / territory | Rate range | Localities |
|---|---|---|
| AK | $18.18 | 1 |
| AL | $13.34 | 1 |
| AR | $13.21 | 1 |
| AZ | $14.10 | 1 |
| CA | $15.00–$18.08 | 29 |
| CO | $14.82 | 1 |
| CT | $15.11 | 1 |
| DC | $16.03 | 1 |
| DE | $14.28 | 1 |
| FL | $14.22–$15.16 | 3 |
| GA | $13.67–$14.56 | 2 |
| GU | $15.18 | 1 |
| HI | $15.18 | 1 |
| IA | $13.56 | 1 |
| ID | $13.63 | 1 |
| IL | $13.94–$14.88 | 4 |
| IN | $13.68 | 1 |
| KS | $13.52 | 1 |
| KY | $13.56 | 1 |
| LA | $13.54–$13.99 | 2 |
| MA | $14.78–$15.97 | 2 |
| MD | $14.49–$16.03 | 3 |
| ME | $13.67–$14.18 | 2 |
| MI | $13.80–$14.35 | 2 |
| MN | $14.33 | 1 |
| MO | $13.39–$14.03 | 3 |
| MS | $13.30 | 1 |
| MT | $14.36 | 1 |
| NC | $13.77 | 1 |
| ND | $14.16 | 1 |
| NE | $13.61 | 1 |
| NH | $14.61 | 1 |
| NJ | $15.32–$15.95 | 2 |
| NM | $13.85 | 1 |
| NV | $14.31 | 1 |
| NY | $13.91–$16.42 | 5 |
| OH | $13.75 | 1 |
| OK | $13.54 | 1 |
| OR | $14.24–$15.17 | 2 |
| PA | $13.77–$14.84 | 2 |
| PR | $14.43 | 1 |
| RI | $14.69 | 1 |
| SC | $13.78 | 1 |
| SD | $14.14 | 1 |
| TN | $13.57 | 1 |
| TX | $13.71–$14.75 | 8 |
| UT | $13.91 | 1 |
| VA | $14.14–$16.03 | 2 |
| VI | $14.43 | 1 |
| VT | $14.13 | 1 |
| WA | $14.75–$16.24 | 2 |
| WI | $13.84 | 1 |
| WV | $13.59 | 1 |
| WY | $14.28 | 1 |
Compare 97035 by payment locality
Find the payment area for your service address, then open its rate page for calculation inputs, release history and the percentage-of-Medicare tool. A city may cross payment-area boundaries; the ZIP lookup above helps resolve the location.
109 of 109 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Office $13.34 | Facility Unavailable |
| Alaska* | Office $18.18 | Facility Unavailable |
| Arizona | Office $14.10 | Facility Unavailable |
| Arkansas | Office $13.21 | Facility Unavailable |
| Atlanta | Office $14.56 | Facility Unavailable |
| Austin | Office $14.75 | Facility Unavailable |
| Bakersfield | Office $15.04 | Facility Unavailable |
| Baltimore/Surr. Cntys | Office $15.07 | Facility Unavailable |
| Beaumont | Office $13.71 | Facility Unavailable |
| Brazoria | Office $14.28 | Facility Unavailable |
| Chicago | Office $14.88 | Facility Unavailable |
| Chico | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Colorado | Office $14.82 | Facility Unavailable |
| Connecticut | Office $15.11 | Facility Unavailable |
| Dallas | Office $14.35 | Facility Unavailable |
| Dc + Md/Va Suburbs | Office $16.03 | Facility Unavailable |
| Delaware | Office $14.28 | Facility Unavailable |
| Detroit | Office $14.35 | Facility Unavailable |
| East St. Louis | Office $14.14 | Facility Unavailable |
| El Centro | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Fort Lauderdale | Office $14.72 | Facility Unavailable |
| Fort Worth | Office $14.28 | Facility Unavailable |
| Fresno | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Galveston | Office $14.31 | Facility Unavailable |
| Hanford-Corcoran | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Hawaii, Guam | Office $15.18 | Facility Unavailable |
| Houston | Office $14.49 | Facility Unavailable |
| Idaho | Office $13.63 | Facility Unavailable |
| Indiana | Office $13.68 | Facility Unavailable |
| Iowa | Office $13.56 | Facility Unavailable |
| Kansas | Office $13.52 | Facility Unavailable |
| Kentucky | Office $13.56 | Facility Unavailable |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (Los Angeles/Orange Cnty) | Office $15.82 | Facility Unavailable |
| Madera | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Manhattan | Office $16.14 | Facility Unavailable |
| Merced | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Metropolitan Boston | Office $15.97 | Facility Unavailable |
| Metropolitan Kansas City | Office $13.93 | Facility Unavailable |
| Metropolitan Philadelphia | Office $14.84 | Facility Unavailable |
| Metropolitan St. Louis | Office $14.03 | Facility Unavailable |
| Miami | Office $15.16 | Facility Unavailable |
| Minnesota | Office $14.33 | Facility Unavailable |
| Mississippi | Office $13.30 | Facility Unavailable |
| Modesto | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Montana** | Office $14.36 | Facility Unavailable |
| Napa | Office $16.87 | Facility Unavailable |
| Nebraska | Office $13.61 | Facility Unavailable |
| Nevada** | Office $14.31 | Facility Unavailable |
| New Hampshire | Office $14.61 | Facility Unavailable |
| New Mexico | Office $13.85 | Facility Unavailable |
| New Orleans | Office $13.99 | Facility Unavailable |
| North Carolina | Office $13.77 | Facility Unavailable |
| North Dakota** | Office $14.16 | Facility Unavailable |
| Northern Nj | Office $15.95 | Facility Unavailable |
| Nyc Suburbs/Long Island | Office $16.42 | Facility Unavailable |
| Ohio | Office $13.75 | Facility Unavailable |
| Oklahoma | Office $13.54 | Facility Unavailable |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Office $15.71 | Facility Unavailable |
| Portland | Office $15.17 | Facility Unavailable |
| Poughkpsie/N Nyc Suburbs | Office $15.41 | Facility Unavailable |
| Puerto Rico | Office $14.43 | Facility Unavailable |
| Queens | Office $16.24 | Facility Unavailable |
| Redding | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of California | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Florida | Office $14.22 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Georgia | Office $13.67 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Illinois | Office $13.94 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Louisiana | Office $13.54 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Maine | Office $13.67 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Maryland | Office $14.49 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Massachusetts | Office $14.78 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Michigan | Office $13.80 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Missouri | Office $13.39 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of New Jersey | Office $15.32 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of New York | Office $13.91 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Oregon | Office $14.24 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Pennsylvania | Office $13.77 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Texas | Office $13.97 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rest Of Washington | Office $14.75 | Facility Unavailable |
| Rhode Island | Office $14.69 | Facility Unavailable |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Office $15.11 | Facility Unavailable |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Office $15.60 | Facility Unavailable |
| Salinas | Office $15.54 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | Office $15.79 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (Marin Cnty) | Office $17.72 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (San Francisco/San Mateo/Alameda/Contra Costa Cnty) | Office $17.71 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty) | Office $18.08 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (Santa Clara Cnty) | Office $18.03 | Facility Unavailable |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles | Office $15.30 | Facility Unavailable |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville | Office $15.86 | Facility Unavailable |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara | Office $15.57 | Facility Unavailable |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma | Office $16.02 | Facility Unavailable |
| Seattle (King Cnty) | Office $16.24 | Facility Unavailable |
| South Carolina | Office $13.78 | Facility Unavailable |
| South Dakota** | Office $14.14 | Facility Unavailable |
| Southern Maine | Office $14.18 | Facility Unavailable |
| Stockton | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| Suburban Chicago | Office $14.86 | Facility Unavailable |
| Tennessee | Office $13.57 | Facility Unavailable |
| Utah | Office $13.91 | Facility Unavailable |
| Vallejo | Office $16.85 | Facility Unavailable |
| Vermont | Office $14.13 | Facility Unavailable |
| Virgin Islands | Office $14.43 | Facility Unavailable |
| Virginia | Office $14.14 | Facility Unavailable |
| Visalia | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
| West Virginia | Office $13.59 | Facility Unavailable |
| Wisconsin | Office $13.84 | Facility Unavailable |
| Wyoming** | Office $14.28 | Facility Unavailable |
| Yuba City | Office $15.00 | Facility Unavailable |
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97035 billing questions
How are units of this code counted for Medicare?
Medicare uses total timed-service minutes for the visit to determine the allowable units, then assigns units to the timed services performed. Count only minutes of ultrasound actually delivered with the clinician in attendance toward this code.
Is phonophoresis billed with this code or with iontophoresis?
Report phonophoresis with 97035 when ultrasound is the medication delivery method. Iontophoresis uses electrical current to deliver medication and is reported with 97033.
Can a combination ultrasound and electrical stimulation treatment be billed as two timed services?
Do not count the same treatment minutes toward both codes. When both energies are delivered simultaneously through one head, those minutes support only one timed service.
Does a professional or technical component modifier apply?
No. This therapy service has no separately reportable professional or technical component, so modifiers 26 and TC are not used. Use the therapy discipline modifier appropriate to the plan of care.
What documentation supports medical necessity?
Document the treated area, ultrasound settings, minutes of attended treatment, and why skilled treatment is needed. Link the treatment purpose to functional goals in the therapy plan.
Where these rates come from
FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense, and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indices and the applicable conversion factor. Unavailable or separately priced services are labeled rather than assigned a made-up amount.
Source: RVU26D. Effective 2026-10-01 through the day before 2027-01-01.
12,85297032,,Appl modality 1+estim ea 15,A,,0.25,0.18,,0.18,NA,0.01,0.44,0.44,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,5,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85397033,,App mdlty 1+iontphrsis ea 15,A,,0.26,0.30,,0.30,NA,0.01,0.57,0.57,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,5,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85497034,,App mdlty 1+cntrst bth ea 15,A,,0.21,0.20,,0.20,NA,0.01,0.42,0.42,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,5,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85597035,,App mdlty 1+ultrasound ea 15,A,,0.21,0.21,,0.21,NA,0.01,0.43,0.43,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,5,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85697036,,App mdlty 1+hubbrd tnk ea 15,A,,0.28,0.75,,0.75,NA,0.01,1.04,1.04,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,5,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85797037,,Appl modality 1+lllt po pain,N,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
12,85897039,,Unlisted modality,C,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,7,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00