HCPCS G0544: Discharge follow-upMedicare rate & RVUs in Texas
Reports a telephone follow-up after a patient’s discharge, distinct from a broader transitional care management service covering the transition.
Medicare pays $63.78–$68.44 for G0544 in the office in Texas, from Beaumont to Austin. Which amount applies depends on the service address.
Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.
On this page 9 sections
What G0544 covers
G0544 identifies a telephone contact made after a patient leaves a hospital or other care setting. The call may check how the patient is doing and address concerns related to the recent discharge. The CMS short descriptor does not specify who must make the call, a required contact window, a minimum duration, or particular discharge settings, so those details should not be inferred from this entry.
Document the discharge date, date and participants of the call, its post-discharge purpose, and the issues discussed or actions taken. Use this code for the follow-up contact itself; distinguish it from transitional care management, which represents a broader post-discharge service. The supplied CMS facts do not provide a time increment or unit basis for this code. They also list no additional payment rule to explain for this 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.
Where G0544 pays more and less in Texas
The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.
8 payment localities
$63.78 to $68.44
8 of 8 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $68.44 | $43.35 |
| Beaumont | $63.78 | $42.20 |
| Brazoria | $66.26 | $42.76 |
| Dallas | $66.64 | $43.02 |
| Fort Worth | $66.35 | $42.97 |
| Galveston | $66.44 | $42.89 |
| Houston | $67.72 | $44.17 |
| Rest Of Texas | $64.96 | $42.45 |
How the G0544 rate is calculated
Each of G0544’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 · G0544
RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor
Work0.98
0.98 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Practice expense0.95
0.95 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Malpractice0.07
0.07 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Adjusted RVUs
2.0000
Conversion factor
$33.4009
Medicare rate
$66.80
Every GPCI starts at 1.000, the national rate. Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.
Payment rules and modifiers for G0544
G0544 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 · G0544
Which rate does Medicare pay?
The POS code on the claim line (CMS-1500 box 24B).
POS 11 · non-facility rate · national
$66.80
- Non-facility (office)
- $66.80
- Facility
- $43.09
Higher because the practice carries its own overhead.
G0544 compared with similar codes
Compare codes · National
4 codes, side by side
How to choose
- 99495Transitional care management
- 99495 represents transitional care management for a qualifying post-discharge episode. G0544 identifies the telephone follow-up contact, not the full transition-management service.
- 99496Transitional care management
- 99496 is the higher-complexity transitional care management code. Choose it for the qualifying broader service, not solely because a post-discharge call occurred.
- G0546Digital E/M
- G0546 describes a phone or internet EHR assessment. G0544 is specifically identified as a post-discharge phone follow-up.
G0544 billing questions
How is G0544 different from transitional care management?
G0544 identifies a post-discharge telephone follow-up. billing code 99495 and 99496 represent broader transitional care management services, not just the call.
What should the record show?
Record the discharge date, call date, who participated, the reason for the post-discharge contact, and the concerns or next steps discussed.
Is G0544 reported by minutes or units?
The supplied CMS descriptor does not state a time increment or unit basis. Do not derive units from call duration using this entry alone.
Does the code specify a modifier?
The supplied CMS facts do not identify a modifier requirement. The record should make clear that the service was a telephone follow-up after discharge.
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
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