CPT code 01716: Tenodesis anesthesia, upper arm or elbow2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

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

What 01716 covers

This anesthesia service accompanies an operation involving tenodesis in the upper arm or elbow region. Tenodesis fixes a tendon to another structure to support or restore its function. An anesthesiologist or CRNA reports the anesthesia service, while the surgeon reports the operation. The operative record should identify the procedure and anatomic site; the anesthesia record should document the anesthesia service and its time.

Select 01716 for a tenodesis procedure rather than 01712 for tenotomy, 01714 for tendonplasty, or 01710 for other nerve, muscle, or tendon procedures in the region. For other open or arthroscopic elbow procedures, select the anesthesia code matching the procedure, such as 01740. This code has 5 base units. Medicare payment is (base units + time units) × the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Anesthesia time runs from when the practitioner begins preparing the patient until the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care; minutes convert to 15-minute units computed to one decimal place, and 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 01716 pays more and less

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

109 of 109 payment localities

01716 rates by state

Office rate range in each state. Select a state to see its payment localities.

How the 01716 rate is calculated

Each of 01716’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 01716

01716 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.

01716 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01712Upper-arm tenotomyOpen procedure, elbow to shoulder

Use 01716 for tenodesis in the upper arm or elbow. Use 01712 when the documented procedure is a tenotomy in that region.

01714Tenoplasty anesthesiaUpper arm or elbow

01716 identifies tenodesis; 01714 is for tendonplasty in the upper arm or elbow.

01710Upper-arm/elbow anesthesiaNerve, muscle, tendon NOS

01710 is for other nerve, muscle, or tendon procedures in the upper arm or elbow, rather than the more specific tenodesis category.

01740Other elbow anesthesiaOpen or arthroscopic, unspecified

01740 is for other open or arthroscopic elbow procedures. Use 01716 when the procedure involves tenodesis in the upper arm or elbow.

Codes related to 01716

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