038 Medicaid reimbursement rate by state (2026)

• Order. States are listed from the highest published rate to the lowest. No single unit is shared by 8 or more states for 038, so the order is by published amount and is not a like-for-like rank.
• Medicaid rate. The most the state's fee-for-service program pays for one unit, as published. 3 of the 7 states list more than one rate for 038, by modifier, provider type or setting; the table shows the one that matches the provider level and setting used across states, without add-ons.
• Unit. Of the 7 states, 1 publish 038 per weights - 10% cap applied, and 6 schedules print no unit at all (a flat amount per service).
• Per hour. 038 is not billed in time units in these states, so no hourly figure is shown.
• Managed-care plans. The rule the state sets for its plans on this rate. What each rule means is explained below.
• % of Medicare. No Medicare physician fee schedule amount is on file for 038, so there is no percentage.
• Source and date. Each Source link opens the state's own document; “since” is the date the rate took effect.

Published rates for 038 run from $1.10 in Iowa to $3,587.62 in New Hampshire, a 3264.4x gap in the same unit. Half the states pay more than the median of $2.53 and half pay less. The usual reasons for a spread like this in hospital inpatient rates:

• Some states still pay certain hospitals or stays per day instead of per discharge.
• States use different inpatient grouper systems, so a diagnosis-related group weight in one state is not comparable with a weight from another grouper.
• Base rates are often hospital-specific, adjusted for wages, teaching and other factors, so the same weight produces a different payment at each hospital.

Timing matters too. None of the states changed its rate for 038 in 2026. A state that has not updated its rate in years will drift down the ranking as others raise theirs.

What a plan pays for 038 is negotiated privately, but the state decides how much room there is to negotiate. Here is how the rules break down across the 7 states.

In 4 states, the published rate binds plans: a floor, a pass-through or a state-set rate. In 1 state, plans negotiate and the published rate is a benchmark or out-of-network default. The rule for the remaining 2 states is not classified yet.

• Plans must pay at least the published rate (4 states). The published rate is your floor. Negotiate up from it, and if a plan pays less, the contract provision is the basis for a payment dispute.
• Plans negotiate; the published rate applies out of network (1 state). In-network rates can be above or below the published rate. The published rate is the benchmark both sides know, and the fallback if no contract is signed.

Plan-negotiated rates are never estimated here. To see the rule and its citation for a particular state, open that state's managed-care page, for example New Hampshire managed care.

038 is a inpatient DRG in the hospital inpatient line, billed mostly by hospitals. Inpatient stays are paid per discharge: a diagnosis-related group weight multiplied by a hospital base rate, with outlier payments for unusually costly stays. A value on this page can therefore be a weight or a pricing input, not dollars.

A value here may be a relative weight, an average length of stay, an outlier threshold or another pricing input. The payment is the weight multiplied by the hospital's base rate.

Before billing, confirm the rate, unit and any modifier with the state's current schedule or the plan: the amounts here are as published, not a guarantee of payment.