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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

27030 Hip drainage Medicare reimbursement rates in Alabama

Reports open surgical drainage of the hip joint, commonly for septic arthritis when the surgeon enters the joint to evacuate infected fluid. Compare 27030 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Alabama.

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 27030 in Alabama?

Alabama has 1 payment locality in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the payment area shown below, using the same CMS release.

Office / nonfacility

No supported rate

Facility setting

$779.61

1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.

Payment area: Alabama

One mapped payment locality.

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.

Find 27030 in your payment locality →

Orthopedic surgery

About 27030: Open hip joint drainage

Reports open surgical drainage of the hip joint, commonly for septic arthritis when the surgeon enters the joint to evacuate infected fluid.

This service involves surgically opening the hip joint to drain fluid, most often in a patient with septic arthritis. An orthopedic surgeon typically performs it in an operating room, where the joint can be accessed and the collected fluid drained. It is for drainage within the joint, rather than treatment of a nearby soft-tissue collection or a diagnostic sample alone.

Report the code when the operative documentation supports hip-joint entry and drainage; document the indication, operative findings, and work performed. CMS assigns a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures occur in the same session, the highest-valued is paid in full and the others at 50%. For bilateral reporting with modifier 50, CMS pays at 150%. Assistant-at-surgery services may be paid; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 27030

Global period
Major surgery with a 90-day global period: the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care are included.
Multiple procedures
Standard multiple procedure reduction: the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and others at 50% when performed in the same session.
Bilateral procedures
Bilateral procedure with modifier 50 is paid at 150%.
Assistant at surgery
Assistant at surgery may be paid.
Co-surgeons
Co-surgeons paid only with supporting documentation.
Team surgery
Team surgery not permitted.

Where the value comes from

  • Work RVU13.31 · 52%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU9.64 · 37%
  • Malpractice RVU2.82 · 11%

1.7K

Medicare services in 2024 · #2591 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.

27030 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Alabama, from the same CMS release.

27033

Hip arthrotomy

Exploration or body removal

No office rate

Choose 27030 when the operative objective is hip-joint drainage. Code 27033 applies when the surgeon explores the joint to remove a loose or foreign body.

27052

Joint biopsy

Hip joint tissue

No office rate

Code 27052 represents biopsy of the hip joint for tissue diagnosis; 27030 represents operative drainage of the joint.

27054

Hip synovectomy

Extensive open removal

No office rate

Code 27054 describes removal of the hip-joint lining. It is not the drainage service represented by 27030.

Compare 27030 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.

1 of 1 payment localities

Office and facility base rates · shared scale starting at $0

  • Alabama →

    Office / nonfacility

    Unavailable

    Facility

    $779.61

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How this local rate is calculated

Each RVU component is multiplied by its own geographic practice cost index (GPCI). The three adjusted components are added, then multiplied by the conversion factor. These are the inputs used for 27030 in Alabama.

PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv

2,716

Code
27030
Physician work
13.31
Practice expense
9.64
Malpractice
2.82

GPCI2026.csv

4

Locality
Alabama
Physician work
1.000
Practice expense
0.875
Malpractice
0.566
Facility calculation for 27030 in Alabama
ComponentRVULocality factorAdjusted
Physician work13.31× 1.00013.3100
Practice expense9.64× 0.8758.4350
Malpractice2.82× 0.5661.5961
Total RVUs23.3411
Conversion factor× 33.4009

Facility rate, Alabama$779.61

Values as parsed from CMS release RVU26D, effective 2026-10-01. The amount is rounded to the nearest cent only at the end.
Explore RVUs, geographic factors and the full formula

Facility

Facility calculation inputs
ComponentRVULocal GPCI
Work13.311
Practice expense9.640.875
Malpractice2.820.566

(13.31 × 1 + 9.64 × 0.875 + 2.82 × 0.566) × $33.4009 = $779.61

The office and facility calculations use their respective practice-expense RVUs. The facility amount here is the physician fee, not a separate hospital or facility bill.

27030 billing questions

When is this code appropriate instead of a hip-joint biopsy code?

Use it when the operative objective is to drain the hip joint, such as for septic arthritis. A biopsy code represents tissue sampling for diagnosis, not drainage as the primary service.

How does this differ from the other hip arthrotomy code?

This service addresses drainage. Code 27033 describes hip-joint exploration to remove a loose or foreign body, rather than drainage as the operative objective.

What documentation supports reporting it?

The operative report should establish that the surgeon entered the hip joint and drained it, and describe the indication and findings, such as infected joint fluid.

How is bilateral surgery handled?

For bilateral reporting, use modifier 50; CMS pays the bilateral procedure at 150%.

What payment rules apply when other procedures are performed in the same session?

The highest-valued procedure is paid in full, with other procedures paid at 50%. The code has a 90-day global period; assistant-at-surgery payment may be allowed, while co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation.

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.

RVUs for 27030PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 2,716 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for AlabamaGPCI2026.csv, line 4 (RVU26D)
Open CMS sourceHow this rate is calculatedBuild a fee sheet