HCPCS G9481: Remote E/MMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $18.04 for G9481 nationally in the office and $18.04 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $16.63–$25.15.

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

What G9481 covers

G9481 identifies a remote evaluation and management service for a new patient at the 10-minute level. A physician or other qualified clinician may use the encounter to assess a new symptom, discuss a diagnostic concern, or establish a care plan without an in-person visit. The code distinguishes this service by both patient status and the time level; it is not the established-patient version of remote E/M.

Report the code when documentation supports new-patient status, the remote nature of the encounter, the clinical assessment and plan, and the time level. The supplied CMS PFS record assigns 0.48 work RVUs, 0.06 malpractice RVUs, and zero practice-expense RVUs in both office and facility settings. CMS data show zero reported office and facility services for this code in 2024; that utilization fact is not a coding criterion.

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 G9481 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

G9481 rates by state

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

How the G9481 rate is calculated

Each of G9481’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 G9481

G9481 has no global surgery period, no multiple-procedure, bilateral or assistant-at-surgery adjustment, and no professional/technical split. What changes the payment is where the service happens: the place of service on the claim decides whether Medicare pays the office or the facility rate.

G9481 compared with similar codes

How to choose

G9482Remote E/M

Both describe remote E/M for a new patient. Choose between them based on the documented time level: 10 minutes for G9481 or 20 minutes for G9482.

G9483Remote E/M

G9483 is the 30-minute new-patient remote E/M level; G9481 is the 10-minute level.

G9486Remote E/M

G9486 describes the 10-minute remote E/M level for an established patient. G9481 is the new-patient counterpart.

Codes related to G9481

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