Endocrinology · CMS status A
76942
US needle placement guidance
Ultrasonic guidance for needle placement (biopsy, aspiration, injection, vascular access), imaging supervision and interpretation. CMS 2026 wRVU 0.67. Add-on to almost any image-guided needle procedure that does not have its own bundled guidance code.
Work RVU
0.67
2026 Medicare pays
$69.47
National GPCI · non-facility · CF $33.4009
RVU anatomyWork 0.67 + Practice 1.36 + Malpractice 0.05 = 2.08 total
Work (your effort)Practice expenseMalpractice
Billing guidance for 76942 is locked
- When to use it: the exact clinical situations that support billing 76942
- Documentation checklist: the 5 elements your note needs before submitting
- Common pitfalls: the 5 mistakes that get 76942 downcoded or denied
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Common modifiers
26TC59
Common ICD-10 pairings
E04.1C73M75.50K65.9
Payer notes
Medicare and most commercial payers cover 76942 when paired with a legitimate needle procedure and the imaging-bundled parent code is not used. Some commercial payers apply a bundling edit when 76942 follows a code that includes guidance (20611, 49083, 32555 in recent revisions); use modifier 59 only when truly separate anatomic regions are addressed in the same session. The 26/TC split applies as for all radiology services.
Pairs well with
Educational reference, not billing or legal advice. Verify against your payer contracts and your compliance team before submission.