FeeBase
Log inGet started
Menu

CPT code 01938: Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar or sacral2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Anesthesia for image-guided injections, drainage, or aspiration involving the lumbar or sacral spine or spinal cord.

CMS RVU26DEffective Oct 1, 2026109 payment localities99.2K Medicare services in 2024

Medicare rate · 01938

Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar or sacral

Office or facility?

Work RVUs
0
Total RVUs
0.00
Global days
XXX

National rate · 2026

—

Not priced in the facility setting.

See every locality for 01938 →Billed by an NP, PA or therapist? →

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

Your location

Medicare pays by the payment locality where the service is performed.

On this page 10 sections
  1. Medicare rate
  2. What 01938 covers
  3. By payment locality
  4. Rate map
  5. How it’s calculated
  6. Payment rules
  7. Similar codes
  8. Related codes
  9. Billing questions
  10. Sources

What 01938 covers

This service covers anesthesia for percutaneous procedures that use imaging to guide an injection, drainage, or aspiration in the lumbar or sacral spine or spinal cord. An anesthesiologist or CRNA may provide and report the anesthesia; the clinician performing the spinal procedure reports that procedure separately.

Choose this code for the lumbar or sacral region, not the cervical or thoracic counterpart, 01937. It covers injection, drainage, or aspiration procedures rather than lumbar or sacral procedures using a neurolytic agent or neuromodulation. The record should identify the procedure, lumbar or sacral site, image-guided percutaneous approach, and anesthesia practitioner’s time. Medicare payment is (4 base units + time units) × the anesthesia conversion factor. Time starts when the practitioner begins preparing the patient for anesthesia and ends when the practitioner is no longer personally attending and the patient can safely be placed under postoperative care; minutes are converted to 15-minute units 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 01938 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

01938 office and facility rates by payment locality
Payment localityOfficeFacility
AlabamaUnavailableUnavailable
AlaskaUnavailableUnavailable
ArizonaUnavailableUnavailable
ArkansasUnavailableUnavailable
Atlanta, GAUnavailableUnavailable
Austin, TXUnavailableUnavailable
Bakersfield, CAUnavailableUnavailable
Baltimore area, MDUnavailableUnavailable
Beaumont, TXUnavailableUnavailable
Brazoria, TXUnavailableUnavailable

01938 rates by state

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

MEWIVTNHMTNDMNMINYMARIWAIDWYSDIAILINOHPANJCTORNVUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDECAAZNMKSOKARTNNCSCDCTXLAMSALGAFLAKHI

Explore a state

Local rates. Clear comparisons.

Hover or focus a tile to see its rate range. Select it to open the state’s fee schedule.

View every state and territory as a table
01938 office rate range by state
State / territoryOffice rate rangeLocalities
AKNo published base rate1
ALNo published base rate1
ARNo published base rate1
AZNo published base rate1
CANo published base rate29
CONo published base rate1
CTNo published base rate1
DCNo published base rate1
DENo published base rate1
FLNo published base rate3
GANo published base rate2
GUNo published base rate1
HINo published base rate1
IANo published base rate1
IDNo published base rate1
ILNo published base rate4
INNo published base rate1
KSNo published base rate1
KYNo published base rate1
LANo published base rate2
MANo published base rate2
MDNo published base rate3
MENo published base rate2
MINo published base rate2
MNNo published base rate1
MONo published base rate3
MSNo published base rate1
MTNo published base rate1
NCNo published base rate1
NDNo published base rate1
NENo published base rate1
NHNo published base rate1
NJNo published base rate2
NMNo published base rate1
NVNo published base rate1
NYNo published base rate5
OHNo published base rate1
OKNo published base rate1
ORNo published base rate2
PANo published base rate2
PRNo published base rate1
RINo published base rate1
SCNo published base rate1
SDNo published base rate1
TNNo published base rate1
TXNo published base rate8
UTNo published base rate1
VANo published base rate2
VINo published base rate1
VTNo published base rate1
WANo published base rate2
WINo published base rate1
WVNo published base rate1
WYNo published base rate1

How the 01938 rate is calculated

Each of 01938’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.

How the rate is built · 01938

RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor

Office or facility?

Work0.00

0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Practice expense0.00

0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Malpractice0.00

0.00 RVUs× 1.000 GPCI

Adjusted RVUs

0.0000

Conversion factor

$33.4009

Medicare rate

$0.00

Every GPCI starts at 1.000, the national rate. Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.

Payment rules and modifiers for 01938

01938 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.

Place of service · 01938

Which rate does Medicare pay?

The POS code on the claim line (CMS-1500 box 24B).

POS 11 · non-facility rate · national

—

01938 isn’t priced in this setting.

01938 compared with similar codes

Compare codes · National

4 codes, side by side

Office or facility?

  • 01938

    Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar or sacral0 wRVU

    Not priced

  • 01937

    Spinal procedure anesthesia, cervical or thoracic region0 wRVU

    Not priced

  • 01940

    Spinal neurolysis anesthesia, lumbar or sacral0 wRVU

    Not priced

  • 01942

    Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar and sacral0 wRVU

    Not priced

How to choose

01937Spinal procedure anesthesiaCervical or thoracic region
Both cover image-guided injection, drainage, or aspiration procedures, but 01937 is for the cervical or thoracic region; 01938 is lumbar or sacral.
01940Spinal neurolysis anesthesiaLumbar or sacral
01940 is for lumbar or sacral procedures using a neurolytic agent. Choose 01938 for image-guided injection, drainage, or aspiration procedures instead.
01942Spinal procedure anesthesiaLumbar and sacral
01942 covers lumbar or sacral neuromodulation or intravertebral procedures, rather than the injection, drainage, or aspiration service covered by 01938.

Codes related to 01938

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

Codes related to 01938
CodeHow it relatesNational office range
Same family
01937Spinal procedure anesthesia, cervical or thoracic regionCervical or thoracic counterpart for image-guided injection, drainage, or aspiration.No office rate
Used instead
01940Spinal neurolysis anesthesia, lumbar or sacralFor lumbar or sacral procedures using a neurolytic agent.No office rate
01942Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar and sacralFor lumbar or sacral neuromodulation or intravertebral procedures.No office rate

01938 billing questions

When should 01938 be chosen over 01937?

Use 01938 for the lumbar or sacral region. Use 01937 for the cervical or thoracic region when the procedure is an image-guided injection, drainage, or aspiration.

Does 01938 include the spinal procedure itself?

No. It represents the anesthesia service; the clinician performing the injection, drainage, or aspiration reports the procedure separately.

What documentation supports the code?

The record should show the lumbar or sacral site, the image-guided percutaneous procedure and its type, and the anesthesia service and time.

How are anesthesia units calculated for 01938?

The code has 4 base units. Medicare adds time units, calculated from anesthesia minutes in 15-minute units to one decimal place, and applies the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor.

Is 01938 appropriate for lumbar neurolytic procedures?

No. Use 01940 for a lumbar or sacral procedure using a neurolytic agent; 01938 covers image-guided injection, drainage, or aspiration procedures.

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

Did this answer your question about what 01938 pays?

Tell us what you were actually trying to work out. We’ll answer you directly, or build the page that does.

Fee sheets · Coming soon

Put 01938 and the rest of your codes on one sheet

Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.

Join the waitlist