CPT code 01490: Lower-leg cast anesthesia, application, removal, or repair2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in Illinois

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 01490 in Illinois.

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

What 01490 covers

This anesthesia service covers lower-leg cast application, removal, or repair when anesthesia is provided for the cast procedure. An anesthesiologist or CRNA furnishes and reports the anesthesia; the cast procedure is a separate service. Medicare utilization for 01490 is recorded in facility claims. The operative documentation should identify the cast action and treated site, while the anesthesia record supports the practitioner’s time and attendance.

Choose 01490 for lower-leg cast work, not knee-joint cast care under 01420 or anesthesia for a separate closed or open lower-extremity operation, represented by 01462 and 01480. The code has 3 base units. Medicare calculates payment as base units plus time units multiplied by the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Anesthesia time is counted in minutes from preparation of the patient through the end of personal attendance, when the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care, then converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place; conversion factors vary 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 01490 pays more and less in Illinois

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

How the 01490 rate is calculated

Each of 01490’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 01490

01490 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.

01490 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01420Knee cast anesthesiaApplication, removal, or repair

Choose 01490 for lower-leg cast application, removal, or repair; choose 01420 when the cast work is at the knee joint.

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

01462 covers anesthesia for a closed procedure on the lower leg, ankle, or foot. Use 01490 when the anesthetized procedure is lower-leg cast work.

01480Open lower-extremity anesthesiaLower leg, ankle, or foot

01480 applies to open procedures on the lower leg, ankle, or foot; 01490 is for lower-leg cast application, removal, or repair.

Codes related to 01490

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