A0436 — Rotary wing air mileage, per statute mile
A0436 is a HCPCS Level II code for rotary wing air mileage, per statute mile. It belongs to the Transportation, Medical & Surgical Supplies, Administrative section. Whether Medicare pays it depends on the coverage rule below.
Medicare coverage: Carrier judgment
Coverage is decided by your Medicare contractor, not by national policy. Whether this is paid depends on the LCD for your jurisdiction and on what the documentation supports.
From the coverage field of the CMS Alpha-Numeric HCPCS File, release 2026Q3-Jul. This states Medicare’s position on the code, not on your particular claim.
Physician fee schedule statusX
Statutory exclusion. The item or service is not within the statutory definition of 'physician services', so the fee schedule never pays it.
Global period: XXX
Want the dollar amount for your locality? The fee calculator applies your GPCI and the current conversion factor.
Medically Unlikely Edits — units per day
The most units of A0436 Medicare will pay on one date of service. Bill more on a single line and it is denied. The limit is not the same in every setting, so the row that matters is the one matching the claim you are building.
- practitioner
- 300 units MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Clinical: Data
- outpatient
- 300 units MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Clinical: Data
The adjudication indicator decides whether exceeding the limit is worth appealing at all: MAI 1 is a line edit you can support with documentation, MAI 3 is a date-of-service edit that is also appealable, and MAI 2 is absolute — no documentation overrides it. CMS MUE 2026Q3.
The CMS record for A0436
- Long descriptor
- Rotary wing air mileage, per statute mile
- Short descriptor
- Rotary wing air mileage
- Added
- January 1, 2001
- BETOS
- O1A
- Pricing indicator
- 52 — Other
The official wording. This is what the code means.
CMS's 28-character form, which is what shows up on a remittance advice.
When CMS introduced the code.
Berenson-Eggers Type of Service — CMS's own analytic grouping.
Reasonable charge.
Codes adjacent to A0436
HCPCS has no hierarchy — related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If A0436 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- A0428Ambulance service, basic life support, non-emergency transport, (bls)
- A0429Ambulance service, basic life support, emergency transport (bls-emergency)
- A0430Ambulance service, conventional air services, transport, one way (fixed wing)
- A0431Ambulance service, conventional air services, transport, one way (rotary wing)
- A0432Paramedic intercept (pi), rural area, transport furnished by a volunteer ambulance company which is prohibited by state law from billing third party payers
- A0433Advanced life support, level 2 (als 2)
- A0434Specialty care transport (sct)
- A0435Fixed wing air mileage, per statute mile
- A0888Noncovered ambulance mileage, per mile (e.g., for miles traveled beyond closest appropriate facility)
- A0998Ambulance response and treatment, no transport
- A0999Unlisted ambulance service
- A2001Innovamatrix ac, per square centimeter (add-on, list separately in addition to primary procedure)
- A2002Mirragen advanced wound matrix, per square centimeter (add-on, list separately in addition to primary procedure)
- A2004Xcellistem, 1 mg
- A2005Microlyte matrix, per square centimeter (add-on, list separately in addition to primary procedure)
- A2006Novosorb synpath dermal matrix, per square centimeter (add-on, list separately in addition to primary procedure)
Questions about A0436
What is HCPCS code A0436?
A0436 is a HCPCS Level II code for rotary wing air mileage, per statute mile. It sits in the Transportation, Medical & Surgical Supplies, Administrative section.
Does Medicare cover A0436?
The CMS HCPCS file marks A0436 as "Carrier judgment". Coverage is decided by your Medicare contractor, not by national policy. Whether this is paid depends on the LCD for your jurisdiction and on what the documentation supports.
How is A0436 paid under the physician fee schedule?
A0436 carries PFS status code X. Statutory exclusion. The item or service is not within the statutory definition of 'physician services', so the fee schedule never pays it.