CPT code 01744: Elbow repair anesthesia, humeral nonunion or malunion2026 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 01744 covers

This service covers anesthesia for open or surgical arthroscopic elbow procedures to repair a humeral nonunion or malunion. These operations address a humerus fracture that has not healed or has healed in poor alignment. An anesthesiologist or CRNA reports the anesthesia service for the operative encounter, commonly in a hospital operating room or hospital outpatient setting.

Select this code when the operative procedure repairs a humeral nonunion or malunion, rather than a general elbow procedure, osteotomy, cyst excision, or total elbow replacement. The operative report should identify the humeral healing problem, the approach, and the repair performed; the anesthesia record should support the practitioner’s service and time. The code has 5 base units; Medicare payment is (base units + time units) multiplied by the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Time starts when the anesthesia practitioner begins preparing the patient for anesthesia and ends when the practitioner is no longer in personal attendance 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 01744 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

01744 rates by state

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

How the 01744 rate is calculated

Each of 01744’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 01744

01744 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.

01744 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01740Other elbow anesthesiaOpen or arthroscopic, unspecified

01740 covers open or arthroscopic elbow procedures without a more specific procedure category. Choose 01744 when the operation repairs a humeral nonunion or malunion.

01742Elbow osteotomyOpen or arthroscopic osteotomy

01742 is for anesthesia during an elbow osteotomy. Choose 01744 for repair of a humeral nonunion or malunion.

01730Closed orthopedic anesthesiaHumerus or elbow

01730 applies to closed procedures involving the humerus or elbow. Choose 01744 for open or surgical arthroscopic repair of a humeral nonunion or malunion.

01760Elbow replacement anesthesiaTotal joint replacement

01760 identifies anesthesia for total elbow replacement. Choose 01744 when the operation is humeral nonunion or malunion repair rather than joint replacement.

Codes related to 01744

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