CPT97161

PT Evaluation (Low Complexity) Cost in North Dakota

Pt eval low complex 20 min

$97.67North Dakota physician fee2026 Medicare office rate
Hospital payments are wage-adjusted by locality, so the ZIP changes the numbers.
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North Dakota Medicare physician rate (2026)

-0.2% vs national

Single statewide locality.

North Dakota (Hospital)
$97.67
Facility physician fee
Private plan est.
$127–$195
~130–200% of Medicare
Cash / self-pay est.
$78–$147
~80–150% of Medicare

Your ZIP in North Dakota

Enter a ZIP code for your part of North Dakota, whether Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot, or the farm and oil country in between.

What pt evaluation (low complexity) costs at hospitals near you

Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in North Dakota moves the bill more than anything else you control.

Locked

Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.

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What these numbers are

Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery centre rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again.

National vs North Dakota

National office$97.86
National hospital (physician)$97.86
North Dakota vs nationalwithin 2% of the national office rate of $97.86

Where North Dakota ranks for this CPT

Rank (lowest physician fee first)#32 of 51
Lowest stateArkansas ($91.20)
Highest stateAlaska ($126.43)

PT Evaluation (Low Complexity) and how North Dakota is priced

North Dakota's entire fee schedule flows through one statewide locality whose geographic indices sit near the national floor, lifted partly by the work index floor CMS applies to low-cost states. Fargo and a prairie town on the Canadian border publish identical Medicare-approved amounts. With no metro large enough to justify its own locality, the state is among the most straightforward in the country for Medicare pricing. Oil-patch growth in the west changed local economies but not the fee schedule structure.

Fargo and Bismarck are the state's two care anchors, each dominated by large regional systems that also reach into Minnesota, South Dakota, and Montana, with Grand Forks and Minot serving their own areas. Much of rural North Dakota depends on critical access hospitals, and winter travel adds a genuine planning constraint. Some eastern residents cross into Minnesota for care, particularly toward Fargo-Moorhead's twin market.

This procedure: This is the initial physical therapy evaluation for straightforward cases: a low-complexity assessment where the PT reviews your history, examines movement, strength, and function, and builds your treatment plan. It applies when you have no significant complicating factors, for example a recent simple ankle sprain in an otherwise healthy person. The appointment usually runs 30 to 60 minutes and often includes the first treatment, which is billed separately on top.

What Is PT Evaluation (Low Complexity)?

This is the initial physical therapy evaluation for straightforward cases: a low-complexity assessment where the PT reviews your history, examines movement, strength, and function, and builds your treatment plan. It applies when you have no significant complicating factors, for example a recent simple ankle sprain in an otherwise healthy person. The appointment usually runs 30 to 60 minutes and often includes the first treatment, which is billed separately on top.

What Affects the Cost

  • The evaluation is a one-time charge at the start of care, usually priced above a standard treatment visit.
  • Treatment codes billed at the same first visit stack on top of the evaluation fee.
  • Complexity tiering matters: this low-complexity code is the least expensive of the three PT evaluation levels under many commercial fee schedules, though Medicare currently pays all three tiers the same.
  • Direct access rules let you start PT without a physician referral in most states, saving a doctor visit, but some insurers still require a referral for payment.
  • Hospital outpatient therapy departments attach facility fees to the evaluation that private clinics do not.

Questions to Ask Before Booking

  • 1.Do I need a physician referral for my insurance to pay, even though my state allows direct access?
  • 2.What does the evaluation cost, and will treatment on the same day be billed on top?
  • 3.Does the evaluation count against my plan's annual visit limit?
  • 4.After evaluating me, how many visits and units per visit do you anticipate?
  • 5.Is your clinic hospital-owned, and is there a facility fee on this evaluation?

PT Evaluation (Low Complexity) in North Dakota: questions

North Dakota is a single Medicare locality for this fee schedule. The 2026 physician rate for CPT 97161 is $97.67 in an office and $97.67 in a hospital, statewide. A ZIP lookup still confirms the locality mapping.

Not on the physician fee schedule. North Dakota uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.

After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $20 for the office physician line or $20 for the hospital physician line in North Dakota. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.

No. $97.67 is the Medicare physician allowed amount for CPT 97161. Anesthesia, facility fees, implants, and other CPT codes billed the same day are extra. North Dakota ranks #32 of 51 states on this physician line (within 2% of the national office rate of $97.86).

Data source: 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (CMS PPRRVU26B, released March 2026). Conversion factor: $33.4009. Prices shown are Medicare allowed amounts for the physician service and may not match what you are billed. Private insurance and self-pay ranges, when shown, are labeled estimates (typical multiples of Medicare), not quotes. This site is an independent cost tool, not medical advice.