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97546 Work hardening add-on

What 97546 is

CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Work hardening add-on.

Full CPT long descriptions are licensed by the American Medical Association and are not published on this site; the short descriptor above is the one CMS prints in its own fee schedule file. See About CPT.

Medicare payment for 97546 (CY2026)

This code has no Physician Fee Schedule rate: Restricted coverage - payable only in specific circumstances. It may be paid under a different fee schedule (clinical laboratory, DMEPOS, anesthesia) or not paid at all - check the relevant CMS schedule.

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Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE)

Medicare caps 97546 at 2 units per date of service for practitioner claims (MAI 3 - date of service edit (clinical): units above the MUE may pay with documentation on appeal), rationale: Clinical: Data. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.

Billed with 97546? These codes are bundled into it

97546 is a Column 1 code in 3 active NCCI PTP edits. When one of these Column 2 codes is reported on the same date of service, it is denied as bundled - unless the edit's modifier indicator is 1 and documentation supports a distinct service with an NCCI-associated modifier.

Column 2 codeShort descriptionModifier indicator
36591Draw blood off venous device0 - no modifier bypassCheck pair
36592Collect blood from picc0 - no modifier bypassCheck pair
96523Irrig drug delivery device0 - no modifier bypassCheck pair

97546 is bundled into these codes

97546 appears as a Column 2 code in 3 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 97546 is the code that denies.

Column 1 codeShort descriptionModifier indicator
G0151Hhcp-serv of pt,ea 15 min1Check pair
G0157Hhc pt assistant ea 151Check pair
G0159Hhc pt maint ea 15 min1Check pair

Data: CMS CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule RVU file (October release, RVU26D) and Medicare NCCI PTP practitioner edits v32.3 (2026 Q4). Verify against the official files before billing or contracting decisions.