CPT code 01850: Vein procedure anesthesia, forearm, wrist, or hand2026 Medicare rate & RVUs in California

CMS doesn’t publish an office rate for 01850 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 01850 covers

01850 represents anesthesia for a vein procedure involving the forearm, wrist, or hand when the procedure is not represented by a more specific anesthesia category. An anesthesia practitioner reports the anesthetic service; the surgeon reports the underlying operation. The operative record should identify the treated vein, its site, and the procedure, while the anesthesia record supports the anesthesia service and its time.

Choose 01850 for a venous procedure in these regions that is not phleborrhaphy; 01852 identifies anesthesia for phleborrhaphy. Use 01840 for arterial procedures and 01844 for vascular shunt or shunt-revision procedures. 01850 has 3 base units, and Medicare payment is (base units + time units) × the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor. Anesthesia time is recorded in minutes and converted to 15-minute units to one decimal place, from when the practitioner begins preparing the patient until personal attendance ends and the patient can safely enter postoperative care; 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 01850 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 01850 rate is calculated

Each of 01850’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 01850

01850 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.

01850 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01852Vein repair anesthesiaSuture repair

Choose 01852 for phleborrhaphy in the forearm, wrist, or hand. Use 01850 for other qualifying vein procedures in those regions.

01840Arterial procedure anesthesiaForearm, wrist, or hand

01840 describes anesthesia for arterial procedures in the forearm, wrist, or hand; 01850 is for procedures on veins.

01844Shunt anesthesiaCreation or revision

01844 is for anesthesia for vascular shunt procedures or shunt revision. Use 01850 for a vein procedure that is not classified as a shunt procedure.

Codes related to 01850

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