CPT code 00144: Corneal transplant anesthesia, corneal graft surgery2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Massachusetts
Anesthesia for corneal transplantation, including surgery that replaces diseased or damaged corneal tissue with donor tissue.
CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 00144 in Massachusetts.
Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.
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What 00144 covers
Corneal transplantation treats a damaged or diseased cornea by replacing all or part of the affected tissue with a donor graft. Anesthesia is typically provided by an anesthesiologist or CRNA in a hospital operating room or ambulatory surgery center while an ophthalmologist performs the eye surgery.
Report 00144 when the operation is a corneal transplant, rather than another eye procedure, lens surgery, or vitreoretinal surgery. The operative record should identify the corneal graft procedure; the anesthesia record should support the anesthetic service and its start and stop times. Medicare payment is (6 base units + time units) multiplied by the anesthesia conversion factor, which varies by locality. Time is reported in minutes and converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place, starting when the practitioner begins preparing the patient for anesthesia and ending when the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care.
This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.
Where 00144 pays more and less in Massachusetts
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Boston, MA | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| Rest of Massachusetts | Unavailable | Unavailable |
How the 00144 rate is calculated
Each of 00144’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.
How the rate is built · 00144
RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor
Work0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Practice expense0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Malpractice0.00
0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI
Adjusted RVUs
0.0000
Conversion factor
$33.4009
Medicare rate
$0.00
Every GPCI starts at 1.000, the national rate. Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.
Payment rules and modifiers for 00144
00144 has no global surgery period, no multiple-procedure, bilateral or assistant-at-surgery adjustment, and no professional/technical split. What changes the payment is where the service happens: the place of service on the claim decides whether Medicare pays the office or the facility rate.
Place of service · 00144
Which rate does Medicare pay?
The POS code on the claim line (CMS-1500 box 24B).
POS 11 · non-facility rate · national
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00144 isn’t priced in this setting.
00144 compared with similar codes
Compare codes · National
5 codes, side by side
How to choose
- 00140Eye procedure anesthesiaEye procedures not otherwise specified
- Choose 00144 for corneal transplantation. Code 00140 covers other eye procedures that lack a more specific anesthesia category.
- 00142Lens surgery anesthesiaLens procedures
- Code 00142 is for anesthesia during eye lens surgery; 00144 is for corneal transplantation.
- 00145Retinal surgery anesthesiaVitreous and retina
- Code 00145 applies to vitreoretinal surgery. Use 00144 when the operation is corneal transplantation.
- 00147Iridectomy anesthesiaIris surgery
- Code 00147 is for anesthesia during iridectomy, not corneal graft surgery.
00144 billing questions
When should 00144 be chosen instead of 00140?
Use 00144 when the operation is corneal transplantation. Code 00140 is for other eye procedures that do not fall under a more specific anesthesia category.
How are anesthesia time units calculated?
Report anesthesia time in minutes; Medicare converts the minutes to 15-minute units, calculated to one decimal place. The interval starts when the practitioner begins preparing the patient for anesthesia and ends when the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care.
What are the Medicare base units and payment calculation?
Code 00144 has 6 base units. Medicare calculates payment as base units plus time units, multiplied by the anesthesia conversion factor for the payment locality.
What should the records show to support 00144?
The operative report should establish that corneal transplantation was performed. The anesthesia record should support the anesthesia service and document its start and stop times.
Is 00144 also used for lens or retinal surgery?
No. Lens surgery is represented by 00142, and vitreoretinal surgery by 00145; 00144 is for anesthesia for corneal transplantation.
Where these rates come from
FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.
CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027
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