2042 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 2042, 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. 2 of the 5 states list more than one rate for 2042, 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 5 states, 1 publish 2042 per factor and 1 per relative weight, and 3 schedules print no unit at all (a flat amount per service).
• Per hour. 2042 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 2042, 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 2042 run from $0.1834 in Illinois to $1.00 in Florida. The two publish it in different units (factor versus no unit printed), so part of that gap is the unit rather than the price. Half the states pay more than the median of $0.2183 and half pay less. The usual reasons for a spread like this in hospital inpatient rates:

• Base rates are often hospital-specific, adjusted for wages, teaching and other factors, so the same weight produces a different payment at each hospital.
• 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.

Timing matters too. 2 states set the current rate for 2042 in 2026 or later. A state that has not updated its rate in years will drift down the ranking as others raise theirs.

No managed-care plan publishes what it pays for 2042. What is public is the rule each state's plan contracts set, and that rule decides how much the published rate matters when you contract with a plan.

In 2 states, the published rate binds plans: a floor, a pass-through or a state-set rate. In 3 states, plans negotiate and the published rate is a benchmark or out-of-network default.

• Plans negotiate; the published rate applies out of network (3 states). 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.
• Plans are expected to pay at least the published rate (1 state). Treat the published rate as a strong anchor, and confirm the minimum is written into your own plan agreement.
• Plans must pay at least the published rate (1 state). 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.

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 Florida managed care.

2042 is a revenue code in the hospital inpatient line, billed mostly by hospitals. Revenue codes identify a facility's accommodation or cost center on an institutional claim. Day-rate services such as hospice and nursing facility care are billed per day under them.

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.