Billing code 59051: Fetal monitoringMedicare rate & RVUs in Delaware

Reports a consulting physician’s interpretation of fetal monitoring during labor when the service is limited to interpretation rather than interpretation with a report.

CMS RVU26DEffective Oct 1, 20261 payment locality

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 59051 in Delaware.

—Office (non-facility)
$35.72Hospital or facility

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

We’ll open 59051 for the payment locality that covers the ZIP.

On this page 9 sections
  1. Rate in Delaware
  2. What 59051 covers
  3. By payment locality
  4. How it’s calculated
  5. Payment rules
  6. Similar codes
  7. Related codes
  8. Billing questions
  9. Sources

What 59051 covers

A physician consulted during labor reviews fetal monitoring, including the fetal heart-rate tracing, and provides a clinical interpretation. The service is specific to intrapartum monitoring; it is not an antepartum nonstress test or the performance of a procedure such as fetal scalp blood sampling. It may be relevant when the clinician managing labor requests another physician’s assessment of the tracing.

Choose this code when the service is interpretation only. Use 59050 when the consulting physician’s service includes interpretation and a report. Documentation should identify the labor-related consultation, the tracing assessed, the physician’s interpretation, and the resulting clinical assessment. The claim should represent the interpretation service actually provided, rather than the broader interpretation-and-report service.

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.

59051 in Delaware

59051 office and facility rates by payment locality
Payment localityOfficeFacility
DelawareUnavailable$35.72

How the 59051 rate is calculated

Each of 59051’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.

How the rate is built · 59051

RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor

Work0.72

0.72 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Practice expense0.15

0.15 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Malpractice0.22

0.22 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Adjusted RVUs

1.0900

Conversion factor

$33.4009

Medicare rate

$36.41

Every GPCI starts at 1.000, the national rate. Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.

Payment rules and modifiers for 59051

59051 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.

Place of service · 59051

Which rate does Medicare pay?

The POS code on the claim line (CMS-1500 box 24B).

POS 11 · non-facility rate · national

—

59051 isn’t priced in this setting.

59051 compared with similar codes

Compare codes · National

4 codes, side by side

  • 59051

    Fetal monitoring0.72 wRVU

    Not priced

  • 59050

    Labor monitoring0.87 wRVU

    Not priced

  • 59025

    Fetal testing0.52 wRVU

    $50.44

  • 59020

    Fetal stress test0.64 wRVU

    $72.81

How to choose

59050Labor monitoring
Use 59051 for the consulting physician’s interpretation-only service. Use 59050 when the service includes interpretation and a report.
59025Fetal testing
59025 describes an antepartum nonstress test. 59051 concerns a physician’s interpretation of fetal monitoring during labor.
59020Fetal stress test
59020 is a contraction stress test used for antepartum fetal surveillance; 59051 is interpretation of intrapartum monitoring.

59051 billing questions

How does 59051 differ from 59050?

59051 represents interpretation only. 59050 represents fetal monitoring during labor with interpretation and a report.

Can 59051 be used for an antepartum nonstress test?

No. 59051 is for interpretation of fetal monitoring during labor; 59025 describes an antepartum fetal nonstress test.

What should the record support?

Document the labor-related consultation, the tracing reviewed, the physician’s interpretation, and the resulting clinical assessment.

Does this code describe operating the fetal monitor?

No. It identifies the consulting physician’s interpretation-only service, not the technical act of monitoring.

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

Show the CMS file lines behind this rate
RVUs for 59051PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 6,636 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for DelawareGPCI2026.csv, line 40 (RVU26D)

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates

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