US · guidance
CMS Pub. 100-04, ch. 13, § 20.2.5
Special Rule to Incentivize Transition from Traditional X-Ray Imaging to
Digital Radiography
(Rev.3820, Issued: 11-21-17, Effective: 01-01-18, Implementation; 01-02-18)
Section 502(a)(1) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 is titled "Medicare Payment Incentive
for the Transition from Traditional X-Ray Imaging to Digital Radiography and Other Medicare Imaging
Payment Provision." It amends the Social Security Act (SSA) by reducing the payment amounts under
the Physician Fee Schedule by 20 percent for the technical component (and the technical component of
the global fee) of imaging services that are X-rays taken using film, effective January 1, 2017, and after.
Modifier FX (X ray taken using film) was created to implement this provision. Beginning January 1,
2017, claims for X-rays using film must include modifier FX, which will result in the applicable
payment reduction.
History
(Rev.3820, Issued: 11-21-17, Effective: 01-01-18, Implementation; 01-02-18)
Provenance
- Source
- cms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-25
- Edition
- iom-2026-08-25
- Content hash
c41a293a2951d9acd74ffb6281b5b4759d3e688446eae2b6811a27708fe327d1
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.