HCPCS G9981: Remote E/MMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $171.68 for G9981 nationally in the office and $111.22 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $156.16–$214.03.

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

What G9981 covers

G9981 identifies a remote evaluation and management service for a new patient at the 45-minute level. The clinician assesses the patient’s concern, develops or updates a management plan, and communicates remotely. It is intended for a remote clinical encounter, rather than a code describing an in-person office visit. The descriptor does not specify the communication technology, so the record should identify how the encounter occurred.

Choose this code over neighboring time levels only when the documentation supports the 45-minute level and new-patient status. Record the remote interaction, presenting concern, assessment, management, and the basis for the reported time. CMS Physician Fee Schedule data assign work, office and facility practice-expense, and malpractice relative value units to the code. The supplied 2024 utilization file reports zero office and facility services.

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 G9981 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

G9981 rates by state

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

How the G9981 rate is calculated

Each of G9981’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 G9981

G9981 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.

G9981 compared with similar codes

How to choose

G9980Remote E/M

G9980 represents the 30-minute new-patient remote E/M level; G9981 represents the 45-minute level.

G9982Remote E/M

G9982 represents the 60-minute new-patient remote E/M level. Choose G9981 when the documentation supports its 45-minute level instead.

G9983Remote E/M

G9983 is for established-patient remote E/M at the 10-minute level. G9981 is for a new patient at the 45-minute level.

Codes related to G9981

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