CPT code 00872: Lithotripsy anesthesia, water-bath technique2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 00872 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 00872 covers

Code 00872 represents anesthesia for extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy performed with water-bath coupling to fragment urinary stones. An anesthesia practitioner provides and reports the anesthesia service; the practitioner performing lithotripsy reports the operative service separately. The operative record should identify shock-wave lithotripsy and its water-bath technique, while the anesthesia record supports the anesthesia service and recorded time.

Choose 00872 when water-bath coupling is used; 00873 is the corresponding anesthesia code for shock-wave lithotripsy without a water bath. Code 00870 is for anesthesia during operative cystolithotomy, not shock-wave treatment. This code has 7 base units. Medicare payment is the sum of base units and time units multiplied by the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Anesthesia time is reported in minutes and converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place, from preparation for anesthesia until the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance 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 00872 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 00872 rate is calculated

Each of 00872’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 00872

00872 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.

00872 compared with similar codes

How to choose

00873ESWL anesthesiaWithout water bath

Both codes cover anesthesia for shock-wave lithotripsy. Water-bath coupling distinguishes 00872 from 00873.

00870Cystolithotomy anesthesiaExtraperitoneal approach

00870 is for anesthesia during operative cystolithotomy; 00872 is for water-bath shock-wave lithotripsy.

Codes related to 00872

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