CPT code 01480: Open lower-extremity anesthesia, lower leg, ankle, or foot2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 01480 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 01480 covers

01480 identifies anesthesia for an open operation on the lower leg, ankle, or foot when the operation does not fit a more specific anesthesia category. The operative work may involve bone, joint, tendon, ligament, or other soft tissue in these regions; the operative report establishes the site, procedure, and approach. An anesthesiologist or CRNA reports the anesthesia service furnished for the operation, commonly in a hospital operating room or ambulatory surgery center.

Use this entry for open procedures without a dedicated anesthesia category, rather than closed procedures, arthroscopy, peripheral nerve or muscle procedures, Achilles tendon repair, osteotomy or osteoplasty, radical resection, or total ankle replacement, which have separate anesthesia entries. The operative report should identify the treated region and what was done, while the anesthesia record supports the anesthetic service and time. Medicare assigns 3 base units; payment is (base units + time units) × the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Time is counted in minutes from when the anesthesia practitioner begins preparing the patient for anesthesia until the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care, then converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place; 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 01480 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 01480 rate is calculated

Each of 01480’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 01480

01480 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.

01480 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01462Closed lower-leg anesthesiaLower leg, ankle, or foot

01462 applies to closed procedures of the lower leg, ankle, or foot. Choose 01480 when the operative approach is open and no more specific anesthesia category applies.

01464Ankle/foot arthroscopyAnkle or foot arthroscopy

01464 is for arthroscopic ankle or foot procedures; 01480 is for open procedures in the covered regions without a more specific entry.

01484Bone procedure anesthesiaOpen lower leg, ankle, or foot

01484 identifies anesthesia for open osteotomy or osteoplasty in these regions. Use 01480 for other open procedures without a dedicated anesthesia category.

01472Achilles repairRuptured tendon

01472 is the specific anesthesia entry for Achilles tendon repair. 01480 is the broader entry for other open procedures without a more specific category.

Codes related to 01480

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