$835.68–$1,078.51
Use 36013 for catheter placement in the right heart or main pulmonary artery. 36015 requires selective advancement into a segmental or smaller pulmonary arterial branch.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
36015 Pulmonary catheterization Medicare reimbursement rates in California
Reports selective catheter placement in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery, typically to support pulmonary angiography or catheter-directed treatment. Compare 36015 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in California.
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 36015 in California?
California has 29 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 29 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$852.33–$1092.59
29 of 29 localities have a supported rate.
Lowest: Chico
Highest: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty)
A spread of $240.26 per service.
Facility setting
$145.08–$162.06
29 of 29 localities have a supported rate.
Lowest: Chico
Highest: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty)
A spread of $16.98 per service.
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 36015 pays more and less in California
29 payment localities
$852.33 to $1092.59
Vascular catheterization
About 36015: Selective segmental pulmonary artery catheterization
Reports selective catheter placement in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery, typically to support pulmonary angiography or catheter-directed treatment.
This service involves advancing a catheter beyond the left or right pulmonary artery into a segmental or smaller pulmonary arterial branch. Cardiologists and interventional radiologists may perform it during pulmonary angiography or catheter-directed treatment, including procedures addressing pulmonary emboli. The code represents the catheter placement into the distal branch, rather than the imaging interpretation or the therapeutic work performed through the catheter.
Report the code when the record identifies selective catheter placement in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery; document the side and branch reached. Distinguish this distal placement from catheter positioning in the main pulmonary artery or a left or right pulmonary artery. When multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are paid at 50%. For bilateral reporting with modifier 50, CMS pays this procedure at 150%.
CMS billing rules for 36015
- 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%.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU3.42 · 14%
- Practice expense (office) RVU19.87 · 84%
- Malpractice RVU0.49 · 2%
8K
Medicare services in 2024 · #1590 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.
36015 compared with similar codes
Office rates for California, from the same CMS release.
$806.20–$1,035.60
36014 captures selective placement in a left or right pulmonary artery; 36015 identifies placement farther distally in a segmental or subsegmental branch.
$153.08–$188.28
75743 describes bilateral pulmonary angiographic imaging and its radiological supervision and interpretation, not the catheter placement represented by 36015.
Compare 36015 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.
29 of 29 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield | Office $853.76 | Facility $146.50 |
| Chico | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| El Centro | Office $852.42 | Facility $145.16 |
| Fresno | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Hanford-Corcoran | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (Los Angeles/Orange Cnty) | Office $914.91 | Facility $151.51 |
| Madera | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Merced | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Modesto | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Napa | Office $1004.47 | Facility $153.95 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Office $912.09 | Facility $149.34 |
| Redding | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Rest Of California | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Office $857.64 | Facility $150.38 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Office $898.97 | Facility $148.48 |
| Salinas | Office $895.75 | Facility $147.84 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | Office $920.28 | Facility $148.50 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (Marin Cnty) | Office $1068.38 | Facility $158.50 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (San Francisco/San Mateo/Alameda/Contra Costa Cnty) | Office $1067.82 | Facility $157.94 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty) | Office $1092.59 | Facility $162.06 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (Santa Clara Cnty) | Office $1090.31 | Facility $159.78 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles | Office $880.87 | Facility $145.87 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville | Office $931.77 | Facility $147.72 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara | Office $900.05 | Facility $147.62 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma | Office $941.42 | Facility $148.99 |
| Stockton | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Vallejo | Office $1003.66 | Facility $153.15 |
| Visalia | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
| Yuba City | Office $852.33 | Facility $145.08 |
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36015 billing questions
How does 36015 differ from 36014?
36015 describes catheter placement in a segmental or subsegmental pulmonary artery branch. 36014 is for selective placement in a left or right pulmonary artery.
How does 36015 differ from 36013?
36013 describes catheter placement in the right heart or main pulmonary artery. Use 36015 when the catheter is advanced selectively into a segmental or smaller pulmonary arterial branch.
What documentation supports 36015?
Document the pulmonary arterial branch reached and the side, along with the catheter placement performed. The record should support distal selective placement rather than positioning only in a larger pulmonary artery.
Can 36015 be reported with pulmonary angiography?
Yes. Catheter placement and pulmonary angiographic imaging are distinct services when both are performed and documented; 75741 and 75743 describe unilateral and bilateral pulmonary angiographic imaging, respectively.
How is bilateral 36015 reported?
Report bilateral performance with modifier 50. CMS pays bilateral 36015 at 150%.
What happens when 36015 is performed with other procedures in the same session?
Under the standard multiple procedure reduction, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and the other procedures are paid at 50%.
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.
4,43536012,,Place catheter in vein,A,,3.42,20.16,,0.56,,0.62,24.20,4.60,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,1,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,43636013,,Place catheter in artery,A,,2.46,20.35,,0.50,,0.40,23.21,3.36,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,43736014,,Place catheter in artery,A,,2.94,19.06,,0.49,,0.48,22.48,3.91,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,1,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,43836015,,Place catheter in artery,A,,3.42,19.87,,0.55,,0.49,23.78,4.46,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,1,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,43936100,,Establish access to artery,A,,2.94,11.81,,0.37,,0.70,15.45,4.01,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,1,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,44036140,,Intro ndl icath upr/lxtr art,A,,1.72,12.87,,0.27,,0.37,14.96,2.36,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,44136160,,Establish access to aorta,A,,2.46,13.51,,0.38,,0.36,16.33,3.20,0,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00