CPT code 01942: Spinal procedure anesthesia, lumbar and sacral2026 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 01942 covers

This service covers anesthesia for percutaneous procedures guided by imaging on the lumbar or sacral spine or spinal cord. Typical cases include vertebral augmentation, such as vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty. An anesthesia professional provides and reports the service while an interventional radiologist, pain physician, or spine surgeon performs the procedure, commonly in a hospital or ambulatory setting.

Choose 01942 for these image-guided procedures rather than anesthesia for spinal injections or aspiration, or for percutaneous neurolytic treatment, which have separate codes. The operative report should identify the lumbar or sacral site, percutaneous approach, imaging guidance, and procedure performed; the anesthesia record should support the service and its start and end times. Medicare payment is (5 base units + time units) × the locality’s anesthesia conversion factor; time is reported in minutes and converted to 15-minute units to one decimal, beginning with preparation for anesthesia and ending when personal attendance ends and the patient can safely enter postoperative care.

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 01942 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

01942 rates by state

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

How the 01942 rate is calculated

Each of 01942’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 01942

01942 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.

01942 compared with similar codes

How to choose

01941Spine procedure anesthesiaCervical or thoracic

The procedure type is the same, but 01941 applies to the cervical or thoracic region; 01942 applies to the lumbar or sacral region.

01938Spinal procedure anesthesiaLumbar or sacral

Choose 01938 for lumbar or sacral spinal injection, drainage, or aspiration procedures. Choose 01942 for other percutaneous image-guided procedures in those regions.

01940Spinal neurolysis anesthesiaLumbar or sacral

Choose 01940 for lumbar or sacral percutaneous neurolytic treatment. 01942 covers other percutaneous image-guided procedures, such as vertebral augmentation.

Codes related to 01942

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