CPT code 00700: Abdominal wall anesthesia, unspecified upper anterior wall2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 00700 in California.

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 00700 covers

00700 is for anesthesia supporting surgery on the upper anterior abdominal wall when the procedure is not represented by a more specific anesthesia category. It is reported by the anesthesia professional, typically a physician anesthesiologist or CRNA, for the anesthesia service in an operative setting. The operative approach or incision does not by itself establish the code; the procedure and operative site distinguish this service from anesthesia for upper abdominal operations involving other structures.

Use a more specific anesthesia code for a liver biopsy, upper abdominal hernia repair, posterior abdominal wall surgery, or an intraperitoneal upper abdominal operation. The operative report should identify the procedure and site, and the anesthesia record should support the service and its start and end times. This code has 4 base units; Medicare calculates payment as base units plus time units multiplied by the anesthesia conversion factor. Time is reported in minutes and converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place, from anesthesia preparation until the practitioner is no longer personally attending and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care; the conversion factor varies by locality.

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 00700 pays more and less in California

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

29 of 29 payment localities

How the 00700 rate is calculated

Each of 00700’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.

Payment rules and modifiers for 00700

00700 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.

00700 compared with similar codes

How to choose

00702Liver biopsy anesthesiaUpper anterior abdomen

00702 is for anesthesia during liver biopsy. Use 00700 for an unspecified procedure on the upper anterior abdominal wall.

00730Posterior abdominal anesthesiaUpper posterior abdominal wall

00730 applies to procedures on the upper posterior abdominal wall; 00700 is for the upper anterior wall.

00750Hernia repair anesthesiaUpper abdomen, other

00750 is for anesthesia for upper abdominal hernia repair. 00700 is not the choice for that specifically identified operation.

00790Upper abdominal anesthesiaIntraperitoneal procedures

00790 covers upper abdominal intraperitoneal operations. 00700 is for a procedure on the anterior abdominal wall.

Codes related to 00700

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

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

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates