CPT 99291
Critical care, first 30 to 74 minutes
A physician charge for critical care: direct treatment of a patient whose condition threatened life or a vital organ, for at least 30 minutes. It is a time-based code. Each further 30 minutes is billed as 99292.
Billed to Medicare
$1,051
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in a hospital setting.
Medicare accepted
$208
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
5.1x
How many times the accepted amount the billed figure was.
National averages from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2024 data, retrieved 2026-09-14. Medicare fee-for-service, physician and practitioner claims only. The hospital's own charge for the same code is separate and is usually higher. Based on 5,789,504 services.
Of the 6 emergency room visit levels codes on this site with CMS figures, this one has the narrowest gap between billed and accepted. The widest is ER visit, level 1 at 15.6x.
Where this line goes wrong
Thirty minutes is the floor
Less than 30 minutes of critical care is not billable as critical care at all; it becomes an ER visit level. The doctor's note should record the time. If it does not, the charge is on shaky ground.
Not alongside an ER level from the same doctor
A single physician does not normally bill both an ER visit level and critical care for the same encounter. Two codes for one doctor is worth a query. Two different doctors (the ER physician and, say, a cardiologist) can each bill their own.
It brings the trauma fee with it
Hospitals may bill a trauma team activation fee only when critical care was provided. If you see revenue code 0681 to 0689 or G0390 without critical care documented, ask how the activation charge was justified.
Want to know if this line is right on your own bill? Upload it to a free mediloop account. An automatic first look reads the charges and shows what looks worth questioning, usually in about a minute.
Check my bill for freeCheck it, then ask
- 1
Ask for the physician's note and check that critical care time is written down and adds up to at least 30 minutes.
- 2
Check whether the same doctor also billed an ER visit level (99281 to 99285) for the same day. Ask for one of the two to be removed if so.
- 3
If the bill carries a trauma activation fee, check the critical care line is there to support it, and vice versa.
The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: You got an ER bill.
Upload the bill to a free mediloop account. An automatic first look reads the charges and shows what looks worth questioning, usually in about a minute. If you want a specialist to dispute it for you, it is a flat $129, refunded in full if the bill isn't lowered by at least $129.
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People also ask
Does critical care mean I was in the ICU?
No. Critical care is defined by the patient's condition and the physician's time, not the room. It is billed in ERs constantly.
Can critical care be billed if I was discharged the same day?
Yes, if the criteria were met at the time, for example a severe allergic reaction that was treated and resolved. Same-day discharge is not by itself a reason to remove it, but it is a reason to read the note.
Sources
This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.