Q4198 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 Q4198, 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 6 states list more than one rate for Q4198, 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 6 states, 1 publish Q4198 per unit, and 5 schedules print no unit at all (a flat amount per service).
• Per hour. Q4198 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 Q4198, 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 Q4198 run from $50.55 in Indiana to $127.26 in South Dakota. The two publish it in different units (no unit printed versus unit), so part of that gap is the unit rather than the price. Half the states pay more than the median of $88.22 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.
• Each state sets its own physician conversion factor or fee for every code, and many update them on a state budget cycle rather than on Medicare's calendar.
• Some states pay physician services as a percentage of the Medicare fee schedule; others keep a schedule of their own that may not have been rebased for years.

Timing matters too. 6 states set the current rate for Q4198 in 2026 or later. A state that has not updated its rate in years will drift down the ranking as others raise theirs.

Most Medicaid members are in managed-care plans, and plans don't publish their provider fee schedules. For Q4198, the public signal is the rule each state sets for its plans, recorded on each rate above.

In 1 state, the published rate binds plans: a floor, a pass-through or a state-set rate. In 2 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 (2 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 South Dakota managed care.

Q4198 is a HCPCS Level II temporary code in the physician & professional line, billed mostly by physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other licensed practitioners. Q codes are temporary codes for drugs, biologicals, supplies and services. The unit depends on the code and is often a dose or an item.

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. Where a state publishes separate facility and non-facility amounts, the non-facility (office) amount is usually higher because the practice carries the overhead.

Medicare's 2026 physician fee schedule pays $116.19–$149.91 for Q4198 (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.