CPT code 00948: Cerclage anesthesia, vaginal cervical procedure2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 00948 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 00948 covers

Code 00948 covers anesthesia for vaginal cervical cerclage, in which an obstetrician places a suture around the cervix during pregnancy to help prevent premature cervical opening. The obstetrician reports the cerclage procedure, typically CPT 59320; the anesthesia practitioner reports the anesthetic service separately.

Choose 00948 for vaginal cervical cerclage rather than general vaginal procedures represented by 00940 or other distinct vaginal operations. The operative record should identify cervical cerclage and the vaginal approach; the anesthesia record should document the service and its start and end times. Medicare payment is the sum of 4 base units and time units, multiplied by the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Anesthesia time runs from when the practitioner begins preparing the patient until personal attendance ends and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care; minutes convert to 15-minute units to one decimal place.

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 00948 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 00948 rate is calculated

Each of 00948’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 00948

00948 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.

00948 compared with similar codes

How to choose

00940Vaginal procedure anesthesiaOther vaginal procedures

Choose 00948 for anesthesia for cervical cerclage. Use 00940 for vaginal procedures without a more specific anesthesia code.

00942Vaginal and urethral anesthesiaColpotomy, repair, or open urethral

Code 00942 covers anesthesia for a distinct vaginal closure procedure; 00948 is specific to vaginal cervical cerclage.

00944Vaginal hysterectomyVaginal surgical route

Code 00944 is for anesthesia during vaginal hysterectomy. A vaginal approach alone does not make a cerclage a hysterectomy.

00952Hysteroscopy anesthesiaHysteroscopy or tubal imaging

Code 00952 is for hysteroscopy or hysterosalpingography. Use 00948 when the procedure under anesthesia is vaginal cervical cerclage.

Codes related to 00948

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