J0616 — Injection, metoprolol tartrate, 1 mg
J0616 is a HCPCS Level II code for injection, metoprolol tartrate, 1 mg. It belongs to the Drugs Administered Other Than Oral Method 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 statusE
Excluded from the physician fee schedule by regulation. Payment, where it exists, comes from another fee schedule (drugs via ASP, supplies via DMEPOS, and so on).
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 J0616 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
- 15 units MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Prescribing Information
- outpatient
- 15 units MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Prescribing Information
- DME supplier
- 15 units MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Prescribing Information
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 J0616
- Long descriptor
- Injection, metoprolol tartrate, 1 mg
- Short descriptor
- Inj metoprolol tartrate 1 mg
- Added
- July 1, 2025
- BETOS
- O1E
- Pricing indicator
- 51 — 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.
Drugs.
Codes adjacent to J0616
HCPCS has no hierarchy — related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If J0616 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- J0608Lanthanum carbonate, oral, powder, 5 mg, not therapeutically equivalent to j0607 (for esrd on dialysis)
- J0609Ferric citrate, oral, 3 mg ferric iron, (for esrd on dialysis)
- J0610Injection, calcium gluconate (fresenius kabi), per 10 mlterminated
- J0611Injection, calcium gluconate (wg critical care), per 10 mlterminated
- J0612Injection, calcium gluconate, not otherwise specified, 10 mg
- J0613Injection, calcium gluconate (wg critical care), not therapeutically equivalent to j0612, 10 mg
- J0614Injection, treosulfan, 50 mg
- J0615Calcium acetate, oral, 23 mg (for esrd on dialysis)
- J0618Injection, calcium chloride, 2 mg
- J0620Injection, calcium glycerophosphate and calcium lactate, per 10 ml
- J0630Injection, calcitonin salmon, up to 400 units
- J0636Injection, calcitriol, 0.1 mcg
- J0637Injection, caspofungin acetate, 5 mg
- J0638Injection, canakinumab, 1 mg
- J0640Injection, leucovorin calcium, per 50 mg
- J0641Injection, levoleucovorin, not otherwise specified, 0.5 mg
Questions about J0616
What is HCPCS code J0616?
J0616 is a HCPCS Level II code for injection, metoprolol tartrate, 1 mg. It sits in the Drugs Administered Other Than Oral Method section.
Does Medicare cover J0616?
The CMS HCPCS file marks J0616 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 J0616 paid under the physician fee schedule?
J0616 carries PFS status code E. Excluded from the physician fee schedule by regulation. Payment, where it exists, comes from another fee schedule (drugs via ASP, supplies via DMEPOS, and so on).