CPT 96374
IV push of a drug, single or first
Giving a drug into a vein by direct injection (an IV push) rather than a drip. This is the code for the first push of a visit; further pushes of different drugs are 96375, and a second push of the same drug is 96376. Common in the ER for pain relief, anti-nausea drugs and antibiotics.
Billed to Medicare
$154
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in an office.
Medicare accepted
$37
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
4.2x
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 208,171 services.
Among the 10 er procedures and injections codes on this site with CMS figures, this gap ranks 8 of 10 (median 4.7x). The widest is Simple wound repair, up to 2.5 cm at 9.9x.
Where this line goes wrong
Only one initial service per visit
Coding rules allow one 'initial' infusion or injection code per encounter. If 96374 appears together with an initial hydration code (96360) or an initial infusion code (96365), one of them should be the subsequent version.
The drug is separate, the push is separate, the IV start is not
Starting the IV line is included in the push. A separate charge for the IV start alongside 96374 is a duplicate.
Check it, then ask
- 1
Ask for the medication administration record and count the drugs given by IV push against the lines billed.
- 2
Check that only one initial code (96360, 96365 or 96374) appears for the visit.
- 3
Look for a separate IV start or catheter placement charge.
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Codes that travel with this one
People also ask
What is the difference between an IV push and an infusion?
A push is given over a few minutes by syringe. An infusion runs through a drip over a longer period. They have different codes and the infusion codes are time based.
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.