Billing code 44125: Small-bowel resectionMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $1,097.55 for 44125 nationally in a facility.

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

What 44125 covers

This service involves removing a segment of small intestine and creating an enterostomy, bringing bowel to the abdominal wall to form a stoma. General surgeons commonly perform it in an operating room, including situations such as bowel injury, ischemia, obstruction, or contamination when the operative plan calls for diversion instead of an intestinal anastomosis. The operative report should establish that small bowel was resected and an enterostomy was created.

Select this code when the documented procedure includes both the resection and enterostomy; a resection with anastomosis is a different service. The 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Modifier 50 is not appropriate for this bowel procedure. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

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 44125 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

44125 rates by state

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

How the 44125 rate is calculated

Each of 44125’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 44125

44125 has a 90-day global period: related visits in that window are included in the surgery payment.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

44125 compared with similar codes

How to choose

44120Small-bowel resection

44120 describes small-bowel resection with anastomosis. Choose 44125 when the surgeon creates an enterostomy instead.

44130Bowel anastomosis

44130 describes an intestinal anastomosis, with or without a cutaneous enterostomy; 44125 involves resection of small bowel with an enterostomy.

44126Atresia resection

44126 is for resection addressing congenital small-bowel atresia or stenosis without tapering, rather than the enterostomy procedure represented by 44125.

44127Atresia resection

44127 addresses congenital small-bowel atresia or stenosis with tapering. The congenital condition and tapering technique distinguish it from 44125.

Codes related to 44125

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