CPT 96360: Intravenous Catheter Placement for Hydration 31–60 min
Medicare pays $35 and commercial payers pay $140 on average nationally for this procedure.
CPT code 96360 describes the introduction of an intravenous catheter for hydration and electrolyte supplementation, performed when treating severe dehydration; the service is an IV catheter placement for supplemental fluid therapy with a typical service duration of 31 minutes to one hour, generally delivered in emergency department or outpatient infusion/acute care settings.
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National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Nationally, Medicare’s mean rate of $34.8 for CPT 96360 sits well below BUCA’s commercial average of $140, highlighting a substantial gap between the government fee level and the average commercial reimbursement. That gap of $105.2 underscores how commercial payers on average reimburse meaningfully more than Medicare for this infusion administration code.
Dispersion varies notably across payers: Blue Cross Blue Shield has the widest interquartile spread (P75 $238.4 minus P25 $161.3 = $77.1), followed by BUCA (P75 $169.9 minus P25 $108.6 = $61.3). UnitedHealth Group and Cigna show similar mid-level spreads (UnitedHealth Group IQR $39.4; Cigna IQR $38.8). Aetna displays the tightest IQR at $40.9? Wait compute: Aetna P75 $76.9 minus P25 $35.2 = $41.7 — this makes Aetna among the tighter distributions, while Blue Cross Blue Shield is the most dispersed.