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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

50020 Abscess drainage Medicare reimbursement rates in Connecticut

Open drainage of an abscess in or around the kidney, reported when the surgeon surgically exposes and drains the infected collection. Compare 50020 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Connecticut.

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 50020 in Connecticut?

Connecticut 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

$963.25

1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.

Payment area: Connecticut

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 50020 in your payment locality →

Urologic surgery

About 50020: Open renal or perirenal abscess drainage

Open drainage of an abscess in or around the kidney, reported when the surgeon surgically exposes and drains the infected collection.

A urologist typically performs this operation in an operating room to surgically expose and drain a purulent collection within the kidney or in the tissue surrounding it. The service is defined by open operative drainage of the abscess, rather than drainage through an image-guided catheter or a procedure directed at a renal calculus. The operative report should identify the abscess location and describe the open drainage performed.

Medicare assigns a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% multiple procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this code. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 50020

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 adjustment does not apply; the descriptor or anatomy makes modifier 50 inappropriate.
Assistant at surgery
Statutory restriction: assistant at surgery is not paid.
Co-surgeons
Co-surgeons paid only with supporting documentation.
Team surgery
Team surgery not permitted.

Where the value comes from

  • Work RVU17.63 · 64%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU7.53 · 27%
  • Malpractice RVU2.27 · 8%

18

Medicare services in 2024 · #5980 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.

50020 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Connecticut, from the same CMS release.

50010

Renal exploration

Kidney inspection without definitive treatment

No office rate

50020 is selected for open drainage of a renal or perirenal abscess. 50010 is selected when renal exploration is the defining service.

49405

Visceral drainage

Percutaneous catheter placement

$896.64

49405 describes image-guided catheter drainage of a peritoneal or retroperitoneal collection; 50020 is open operative drainage of a renal or perirenal abscess.

50040

Renal drainage

Open nephrotomy approach

No office rate

50040 covers nephrostomy or nephrotomy with drainage. Choose 50020 when the operation is specifically open drainage of a renal or perirenal abscess.

Compare 50020 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

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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 50020 in Connecticut.

PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv

5,866

Code
50020
Physician work
17.63
Practice expense
7.53
Malpractice
2.27

GPCI2026.csv

38

Locality
Connecticut
Physician work
1.020
Practice expense
1.077
Malpractice
1.210
Facility calculation for 50020 in Connecticut
ComponentRVULocality factorAdjusted
Physician work17.63× 1.02017.9826
Practice expense7.53× 1.0778.1098
Malpractice2.27× 1.2102.7467
Total RVUs28.8391
Conversion factor× 33.4009

Facility rate, Connecticut$963.25

Explore RVUs, geographic factors and the full formula

Facility

Facility calculation inputs
ComponentRVULocal GPCI
Work17.631.02
Practice expense7.531.077
Malpractice2.271.21

(17.63 × 1.02 + 7.53 × 1.077 + 2.27 × 1.21) × $33.4009 = $963.25

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.

50020 billing questions

How is 50020 distinguished from renal exploration?

Report 50020 when open drainage of a renal or perirenal abscess is the operative service. Renal exploration is a different selection when exploration, rather than abscess drainage alone, defines the procedure.

Can image-guided drainage be reported as 50020?

No. 50020 describes open operative drainage; image-guided catheter drainage is a different approach and may point to a drainage code such as 49405, depending on the service performed.

What postoperative care is included?

The 90-day global includes the day-before preoperative visit and related postoperative care through 90 days after surgery.

Should modifier 50 be used for bilateral abscesses?

No. CMS identifies bilateral adjustment as inappropriate for 50020; modifier 50 should not be used.

How are assistants and co-surgeons handled?

Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this code. Co-surgeons are payable only with supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

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 50020PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 5,866 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for ConnecticutGPCI2026.csv, line 38 (RVU26D)