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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

33875 Aortic graft Medicare reimbursement rates in Arkansas

Open replacement of the descending thoracic aorta with a graft, reported for repair of aneurysmal or other disease involving this segment. Compare 33875 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Arkansas.

Amounts below use the non-QP conversion factor for participating physicians. These are base physician payments before claim-level adjustments, not patient costs or total hospital charges.

What does Medicare pay for 33875 in Arkansas?

Arkansas has 1 payment locality in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the payment area shown below, using the same CMS release.

Office / nonfacility

No supported rate

Facility setting

$2270.33

1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.

Payment area: Arkansas

One mapped payment locality.

These are locality ranges, not averages or address-specific quotes. A facility-setting amount covers the physician service; it does not include a hospital’s separate bill. Choose a locality below to inspect its calculation, compare other payment areas, or price a percentage of Medicare.

Find 33875 in your payment locality →

Aortic surgery

About 33875: Open descending thoracic aortic graft

Open replacement of the descending thoracic aorta with a graft, reported for repair of aneurysmal or other disease involving this segment.

A cardiothoracic or vascular surgeon replaces a diseased portion of the descending thoracic aorta with a graft through an open operation, typically using a thoracic incision. Common indications include a descending thoracic aneurysm or dissection. The operation may use bypass support, but bypass is not required for reporting this graft procedure.

Select this code when the open graft repair involves the descending thoracic aorta; document the treated segment, the condition repaired, the graft reconstruction, and any bypass used. 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% multiple procedure reduction. Bilateral adjustment is inappropriate. Assistant-at-surgery payment and co-surgeons are permitted; team surgery is not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 33875

Global period
Major surgery with a 90-day global period: the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care are included.
Multiple procedures
Standard multiple procedure reduction: the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and others at 50% when performed in the same session.
Bilateral procedures
Bilateral adjustment does not apply; the descriptor or anatomy makes modifier 50 inappropriate.
Assistant at surgery
Assistant at surgery may be paid.
Co-surgeons
Co-surgeons permitted.
Team surgery
Team surgery not permitted.

Where the value comes from

  • Work RVU49.45 · 65%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU14.17 · 19%
  • Malpractice RVU12.33 · 16%

108

Medicare services in 2024 · #4820 by national volume

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.

33875 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Arkansas, from the same CMS release.

33877

Aortic graft

Thoracoabdominal segment

No office rate

Use 33875 for open graft repair of the descending thoracic segment. Use 33877 when the repair extends into the thoracoabdominal aorta and includes visceral artery reconstruction.

33880

Thoracic endovascular repair

Left subclavian origin covered

No office rate

This code describes open graft replacement; 33880 describes endovascular descending thoracic repair involving coverage of the left subclavian origin.

33881

Thoracic endograft

Left subclavian origin spared

No office rate

This code describes open graft replacement; 33881 describes endovascular descending thoracic repair without coverage of the left subclavian origin.

33871

Aortic arch graft

Transverse arch, hypothermic arrest

No office rate

Code 33871 concerns graft repair of the transverse aortic arch. Code 33875 is for the descending thoracic aorta.

Compare 33875 by payment locality

Find the payment area for your service address, then open its rate page for calculation inputs, release history and the percentage-of-Medicare tool. A city may cross payment-area boundaries; the ZIP lookup above helps resolve the location.

1 of 1 payment localities

Office and facility base rates · shared scale starting at $0

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How this local rate is calculated

Each RVU component is multiplied by its own geographic practice cost index (GPCI). The three adjusted components are added, then multiplied by the conversion factor. These are the inputs used for 33875 in Arkansas.

PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv

4,097

Code
33875
Physician work
49.45
Practice expense
14.17
Malpractice
12.33

GPCI2026.csv

7

Locality
Arkansas
Physician work
1.000
Practice expense
0.859
Malpractice
0.515
Facility calculation for 33875 in Arkansas
ComponentRVULocality factorAdjusted
Physician work49.45× 1.00049.4500
Practice expense14.17× 0.85912.1720
Malpractice12.33× 0.5156.3499
Total RVUs67.9720
Conversion factor× 33.4009

Facility rate, Arkansas$2270.33

Explore RVUs, geographic factors and the full formula

Facility

Facility calculation inputs
ComponentRVULocal GPCI
Work49.451
Practice expense14.170.859
Malpractice12.330.515

(49.45 × 1 + 14.17 × 0.859 + 12.33 × 0.515) × $33.4009 = $2270.33

The office and facility calculations use their respective practice-expense RVUs. The facility amount here is the physician fee, not a separate hospital or facility bill.

33875 billing questions

How is this distinguished from 33877?

Report 33875 for open graft repair of the descending thoracic aorta. Code 33877 is for thoracoabdominal repair extending into the abdominal aorta with visceral artery reconstruction.

When should an endovascular code be considered instead?

Codes 33880 and 33881 describe endovascular descending thoracic aortic repair rather than open graft replacement. Their distinction includes whether the repair covers the left subclavian origin.

Does the operation require bypass?

No. The graft repair may be performed with or without bypass; document the operative approach and support used.

Can an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?

CMS permits assistant-at-surgery payment and co-surgeons for this code. Team surgery is not permitted.

What postoperative care is included?

The 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care.

Can modifier 50 be used for bilateral repair?

No. Bilateral adjustment is inappropriate for this code and anatomy.

Where these rates come from

FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense, and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indices and the applicable conversion factor. Unavailable or separately priced services are labeled rather than assigned a made-up amount.

Source: RVU26D. Effective 2026-10-01 through the day before 2027-01-01.

RVUs for 33875PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 4,097 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for ArkansasGPCI2026.csv, line 7 (RVU26D)