A2038 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 A2038, 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 A2038, 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 A2038 per unit, and 6 schedules print no unit at all (a flat amount per service).
• Per hour. A2038 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. Medicare amounts exist for A2038, but no state's Medicaid unit matches Medicare's billing unit closely enough to compute a percentage.
• Source and date. Each Source link opens the state's own document; “since” is the date the rate took effect.

Published rates for A2038 run from $14.55 in Colorado to $178.88 in Montana, a 12.3x gap in the same unit. Half the states pay more than the median of $83.49 and half pay less. The usual reasons for a spread like this in physician & professional rates:

• Modifiers such as professional or technical component, bilateral, multiple procedure and assistant at surgery change the amount paid, and states apply them with their own percentages.
• Primary-care and pediatric add-ons, enhanced rates for certain specialties and targeted increases for access problems change individual codes without moving the rest of the schedule.
• Many schedules pay differently by place of service (office versus facility) and by practitioner, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants are often paid a percentage of the physician amount.

Timing matters too. 6 states set the current rate for A2038 in 2026 or later. A state that has not updated its rate in years will drift down the ranking as others raise theirs.

What a plan pays for A2038 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 1 state, 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. The rule for the remaining 3 states is not classified yet.

• 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 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 Montana managed care.

A2038 is a HCPCS Level II transportation and supply code in the physician & professional line, billed mostly by physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other licensed practitioners. A codes cover ambulance and transportation services and medical and surgical supplies. Transport codes are paid per trip or per mile; supply codes per item or per box as the code states.

Physician-fee-schedule codes are billed per service: one unit is one occurrence unless the code itself is defined by time or quantity. Practitioners who are not physicians are often paid a reduced percentage of the published amount, so check the schedule for the reduction that applies to your provider type.

Medicare's 2026 physician fee schedule pays $116.19–$149.91 for A2038 (non-facility), depending on the Medicare locality. That is a useful reference point, but Medicare and Medicaid can define the unit differently, so compare only where the units match.

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.