CPT 64479: Transforaminal Epidural Injection, Cervical or Thoracic Single Level
Medicare pays $296 and commercial payers pay $618 on average nationally for this procedure.
CPT code 64479 describes a transforaminal epidural injection of an anesthetic agent and/or steroid at a single cervical or thoracic spinal level; this is an image-guided or non-image-guided interventional pain management procedure typically performed in an outpatient surgical center or hospital outpatient department to deliver medication into the neural foraminal space for diagnosis or treatment of radicular or postprocedural spinal pain.
For related coverage guidance, see recent payer policy updates: Intravenous Anesthetics for the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Psychiatric or Substance Use Disorders, Intravenous Anesthetics for the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Psychiatric or Substance Use Disorders, Intravenous Anesthetics for the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Psychiatric or Substance Use Disorders.
Customize your policy alerts
Sign up for cpt 64479 policy alerts
Get alerted when payer policies referencing 64479 are released or updated.
Monitor payer policy activity
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Medicare’s mean reimbursement of $296.20 sits well below BUCA’s average commercial mean of $618.50, indicating that commercial networks pay roughly double Medicare for CPT 64479 on average. This gap highlights a sizable commercial premium versus the federal baseline, with BUCA’s center-tendency near $576.70 (median) and Medicare’s median at $292 reinforcing the mean divergence.
Examining dispersion using the interquartile range (P75–P25) shows variability is widest for Blue Cross Blue Shield at $786.10 (P75 $1,202.80 minus P25 $429.70) and narrowest for Aetna at $198.00 (P75 $254.30 minus P25 $53.70). UnitedHealth Group ($488.60 − $231.50 = $257.10) and Cigna ($420.70 − $188.60 = $232.10) sit in the mid-range; BUCA’s IQR is $352.40 (P75 $853.60 − P25 $313.20).