The Alaska Medicaid fee schedule is the highest-paying in the country for routine physician work: Alaska Medicaid pays $165.33 for code 99213, the most-billed return office visit, which ranks first of 46 ranked states against a national median of $75.27. The same first-place rank holds for 99214, 99215, 99203 and 99204, and for emergency department code 99285. For anyone comparing Alaska Medicaid reimbursement rates with other states, the starting point is simple: almost every common code sits at or near the top of the national list.
MedicaidRate holds all 26,981 current Alaska rates across 114 service categories and 7 programs, compiled from 48 official state Medicaid publications, with history back to 2018. Each rate links to its source document.
Alaska does not just beat the national median; it beats Medicare on the core evaluation and management codes. The Medicare non-facility amount for 99213 is $118.72, and Alaska Medicaid pays $165.33. For physical therapy code 97110, Alaska pays 118% of the Medicare amount.
| Code | Plain label | Alaska rate | National median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 99213 | Return visit, level 3 | $165.33 | $75.27 | 1 of 46 |
| 99214 | Return visit, level 4 | $236.62 | $108.69 | 1 of 46 |
| 99204 | New visit, level 3 of 4 | $309.91 | $142.06 | 1 of 46 |
| 99285 | Emergency department visit | $323.58 | $138.99 | 1 of 48 |
| 97110 | Strength and range-of-motion therapy (15 min) | $44.17 | $24.36 | 1 of 48 |
| 59400 | Routine obstetric care package | $3,780.90 | $2,092.38 | 2 of 40 |
For a practice, the meaning is practical: Medicaid volume in Alaska is not the loss leader it can be elsewhere. A level-4 return visit at $236.62 is above the $169.92 Medicare non-facility figure for code 99214. Preventive visit code 99396 pays $220.60 (rank 2 of 46), and speech therapy code 92507 pays $118.16 (rank 2 of 44).
High rates in Alaska reflect the cost of delivering care in the state. Clinicians, staff, rent, freight and travel all cost more, and many communities are reachable only by air. A fee schedule that paid median national rates would struggle to keep practices open in that environment, so the schedule sits well above most of the country.
For a provider, the right comparison is rate against local cost, not rate against another state. A $165.33 office visit is a strong number on paper, but an Anchorage or rural clinic carries wage and overhead costs that also sit near the top of the national range. The gap between Alaska and the national median tells you that Medicaid is a viable payer here; it does not tell you that a service line is automatically profitable.
This is also why Alaska figures need care when they are used in negotiations elsewhere. An Alaska rate is an outlier shaped by local conditions, and quoting it as a target in a lower-cost state is unlikely to persuade a payer.
State fiscal year schedules
Alaska publishes its fee schedules by state fiscal year, which starts July 1. The SFY2027 set took effect on 2026-07-01 for most physician, behavioral health and therapy codes. Each service area has its own schedule file, so a code's rate is found in the file for its provider type: physician, APRN, therapy, audiology, vision, podiatry, laboratory, home infusion and school-based services.
Units, modifiers and provider types
Physician codes pay per service. Behavioral health, ABA and therapy codes are often billed in 15-minute units, so a published unit rate needs converting to an hourly figure before it is compared with staff costs. ABA code 97153 at $31.95 per unit equals $127.80 per hour. Some codes also pay differently by provider type, so the same service can carry a different amount on the APRN schedule than on the physician schedule.
Nearly all current rates (26,663) sit in Alaska Medicaid (fee-for-service, Department of Health). The smaller programs carry the specialty services:
- Alaska Medicaid behavioral health services (State Plan, Division of Behavioral Health): 130 rates, including psychotherapy and ABA
- Alaska 1915(c) home and community-based waivers (Senior and Disabilities Services): 89 rates
- Alaska 1115 Behavioral Health waiver services: 49 rates
- Alaska Personal Care Services and Community First Choice (State Plan, SDS): 24 rates
- Alaska long-term services and supports targeted case management (SDS): 22 rates
- Alaska Medicaid tribal health programs (IHS/638 encounter rates): 4 rates
Dental still references the Alaska Medicaid Dental Fee Schedule SFY2026, durable equipment comes from an archived DMEPOS interim fee schedule, and inpatient hospital pricing follows the Alaska Department of Health APR DRG Pricing Calculator, effective January 1, 2024. By volume, physician and practitioner services lead with 12,427 rates, followed by durable medical equipment (3,431), radiology (3,304), laboratory (2,811) and hospital outpatient (2,521).
The program label matters when billing. A home care agency, a waiver provider and a community behavioral health clinic may all bill similar-looking codes, but each is paid from its own program rate chart.
Outpatient psychotherapy and assessment
Behavioral health keeps Alaska near the top. Psychotherapy code 90837 pays $323.68 per hour, rank 2 of 48 against a $132.38 median, and above the $232.44 Medicare non-facility amount. Code 90834 pays $220.24, also rank 2 of 47, against a $92.09 median. The non-physician assessment, code 90791, pays $334.31 (rank 2 of 44), and the state plan assessment code H0031 pays $537.79 per assessment against a $123.95 median. Therapeutic behavioral services code H2019 pays $31.51 per 15 minutes, rank 6 of 35.
Applied behavior analysis
Alaska pays $31.95 per 15-minute unit for technician-delivered code 97153, which is $127.80 per hour, the highest of the 42 ranked states and 101.5% above the national median of $63.44. Analyst-led code 97155 pays $41.97 per unit ($167.88 per hour). See the full breakdown on Alaska ABA Medicaid rates and Alaska behavioral health Medicaid rates.
What it means for behavioral health providers
Rates at this level change the staffing equation. An ABA provider paid $127.80 per technician hour can fund supervision, travel and documentation time that a provider in a bottom-tier state cannot. Outpatient therapists face a similar picture: code 90837 pays above Medicare, so Medicaid is not the lowest-paying payer in the mix. The 1115 Behavioral Health waiver adds a separate rate chart, so community agencies should confirm which program governs each service before billing.
| Industry | Flagship service | Alaska | Rank | vs national median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outpatient therapy | Physical therapy, per hour | $176.68 | 1 of 49 | 84.0% above |
| IDD services | Community living supports, per hour | $61.84 | 4 of 29 | 77.1% above |
| Home care | Personal care, per hour | $37.20 | 7 of 27 | 21.9% above |
Personal care code T1019 and attendant care code S5125 both pay $9.30 per 15 minutes under the Personal Care Services and Community First Choice program. Home care is Alaska's least extreme flagship, which matters for agencies whose labor costs track the rest of the state's price level: the margin over the national median is much thinner than for physicians or therapists. The skilled nursing page for Alaska shows a daily nursing home rate of $1,100.69, effective 2026-01-01, against a national median of $282.59.
Alaska's managed-care picture is short. Every program on file is paid fee-for-service, no service lines are classified under a managed-care payment rule, and there are no directed payment programs. The plans named are Alaska Medicaid (all enrollees, FFS) and Denali KidCare CHIP, the children's coverage program.
In practice, the published fee schedule is the rate you are paid; there is no plan contract layered on top. That removes a step many providers in other states face, where each managed-care plan sets its own rate and the state schedule is only a floor or a reference. It also means a rate change in the state schedule flows straight through to every Medicaid claim. The Alaska managed care page tracks this if it changes.
- 2026 Annual Rate Update (OPN 224328): a State Plan amendment notice published 2026-06-30, effective 2026-07-01.
- SFY 2027 fee schedules posted in remittance advice notices on 2026-08-05, 2026-08-19 and 2026-08-28.
- FY27 rate charts with a 3.2% increase for personal care and Community First Choice, waiver services and targeted case management, effective July 1, 2026.
- Public meeting on proposed Medicaid payment rates, noticed 2026-08-26 for September 23, 2026.
- Specialized group home and family home habilitation services (OPN 225015): adopted and filed 2026-09-03, effective 2026-10-02.
- BH 1115 waiver rates for subacute stabilization and residential services (OPN 225041): proposed 2026-09-03.
The open items to watch are the proposed 1115 waiver rates and whatever follows the September 23 public meeting. Providers of habilitation, subacute stabilization or residential behavioral health services should expect further changes before the next fiscal year. Not every code moved on 2026-07-01: H2019 ($31.51 per 15 minutes) and ambulance code A0427 ($444.54, rank 13 of 44) carry 2025-07-01 dates.
The gap with the West Coast is wide. For code 99213, California pays $26.18, Washington $57.88, Hawaii $65.05 and Oregon $76.54, against Alaska's $165.33. For ABA code 97153, Hawaii pays $17.66, Oregon $14.70 and Washington $12.40 per unit, against Alaska's $31.95. Personal care is the exception: Hawaii pays $13.28 per 15 minutes for T1019, above Alaska's $9.30.
For organizations operating across the Pacific region, Alaska is not a reference point for its neighbors. A practice expanding from Alaska into Washington or Oregon should expect office-visit revenue per Medicaid patient to fall sharply, while a home care agency would see a much smaller change, or none at all in Hawaii.
Alaska's rate history on file runs back to 2018, which covers several fiscal-year cycles. The pattern is consistent: most rates reset each July 1 with the new fiscal year schedules. The current physician, behavioral health, therapy and laboratory rates carry 2026-07-01 dates. Ambulance and dental rates carry 2025-07-01 dates, and durable equipment follows an interim schedule effective 2026-01-01.
That cycle makes Alaska more predictable than states that change rates at irregular intervals. Plan around a July 1 update each year, and check the remittance advice notices in late summer, when the state posts the updated schedule files.
Budgeting
Use the SFY2027 rate for each code, with the right unit and provider type, and set it against local labor and overhead costs. For time-based services, convert units to hourly figures before comparing them with wages.
Contract negotiation
Because every program is fee-for-service, there is no plan rate to negotiate for Medicaid itself. Alaska's published rates remain a useful benchmark in commercial and other payer discussions within the state, where they show what the public payer considers a sustainable amount.
Benchmarking
Rank and the gap to the national median show where Alaska leads and where it sits closer to the pack, as with home care. Code-level history across all 26,981 current rates is available on the pricing page.
Rates are compiled from official Alaska Medicaid publications, and each rate links to its source document. Named sources include the Alaska Medicaid Physician, APRN, Therapy, Independent Laboratory, Ambulatory Surgical Center, Podiatry, Vision and Audiology Fee Schedules for SFY2027, the Dental Fee Schedule SFY2026, the DMEPOS interim fee schedule and the Alaska Department of Health APR DRG Pricing Calculator. National medians and ranks compare each code across all states that publish it. Read how each rate is sourced and dated on the methodology page.