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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

33020 Pericardiotomy Medicare reimbursement rates in Minnesota

Reports surgical opening of the pericardium to remove a clot or foreign body, including cases performed with or without cardiopulmonary bypass. Compare 33020 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Minnesota.

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 33020 in Minnesota?

Minnesota 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

$709.31

1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.

Payment area: Minnesota

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 33020 in your payment locality →

Cardiac surgery

About 33020: Pericardiotomy for clot or foreign body

Reports surgical opening of the pericardium to remove a clot or foreign body, including cases performed with or without cardiopulmonary bypass.

A cardiac or thoracic surgeon opens the pericardium to remove a clot or foreign body, such as retained material causing compression around the heart. This is an operative service, commonly performed in a hospital operating room when the problem requires direct surgical access rather than needle or catheter drainage. The procedure may be performed with or without cardiopulmonary bypass.

Report the code when the operative record supports pericardial incision for clot or foreign-body removal; a pericardial window for effusion or pericardial tissue resection is a different service. The major-surgery global period includes 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 multiple-procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeons require supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 33020

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
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 RVU13.95 · 59%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU6.10 · 26%
  • Malpractice RVU3.41 · 15%

172

Medicare services in 2024 · #4461 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.

33020 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Minnesota, from the same CMS release.

33016

Pericardiocentesis

Imaging included

No office rate

33020 involves surgical access to remove a clot or foreign body. 33016 is image-guided needle drainage of pericardial fluid.

33017

Pericardial drainage

Age 6+, no congenital anomaly

No office rate

33017 provides catheter-based pericardial drainage for the specified age and congenital-anomaly group. 33020 is an operative incision for clot or foreign-body removal.

33025

Pericardial window

Open surgical drainage

No office rate

33025 creates a pericardial window or partially resects tissue for drainage. Use 33020 when the operation is for removal of a clot or foreign body.

Compare 33020 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 33020 in Minnesota.

PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv

3,819

Code
33020
Physician work
13.95
Practice expense
6.10
Malpractice
3.41

GPCI2026.csv

66

Locality
Minnesota
Physician work
1.000
Practice expense
1.029
Malpractice
0.296
Facility calculation for 33020 in Minnesota
ComponentRVULocality factorAdjusted
Physician work13.95× 1.00013.9500
Practice expense6.10× 1.0296.2769
Malpractice3.41× 0.2961.0094
Total RVUs21.2363
Conversion factor× 33.4009

Facility rate, Minnesota$709.31

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
Work13.951
Practice expense6.11.029
Malpractice3.410.296

(13.95 × 1 + 6.1 × 1.029 + 3.41 × 0.296) × $33.4009 = $709.31

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.

33020 billing questions

How does this differ from pericardiocentesis?

This code is for surgical pericardial access to remove a clot or foreign body. Pericardiocentesis uses needle or catheter access to drain pericardial fluid.

Is a pericardial window reported with this code?

A window created to provide drainage is a distinct service, generally represented by 33025. Choose based on the operation documented, not simply the fact that the pericardium was opened.

What documentation supports reporting 33020?

The operative report should establish the pericardial incision and removal of a clot or foreign body. It should also describe the operative approach and whether cardiopulmonary bypass was used.

Can modifier 50 be used?

No. The CMS bilateral adjustment does not apply to this code, and modifier 50 is inappropriate.

How are other procedures in the same session paid?

Under the standard multiple-procedure reduction, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures performed in the same session are subject to reduction. The code has a 90-day global period for related postoperative care.

May an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?

An assistant at surgery may be paid. Co-surgeons are paid only with supporting documentation; 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 33020PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 3,819 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for MinnesotaGPCI2026.csv, line 66 (RVU26D)
Open CMS sourceHow this rate is calculatedBuild a fee sheet