No office rate
Use 37605 for ligation of the internal or common carotid artery; 37600 is specific to the external carotid.
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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
37600 Carotid ligation Medicare reimbursement rates in Illinois
Reports operative ligation of the external carotid artery when a surgeon needs to interrupt its blood flow, such as for control of head-and-neck bleeding. Compare 37600 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Illinois.
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 37600 in Illinois?
Illinois has 4 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 4 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
No supported rate
Facility setting
$686.15–$758.24
4 of 4 localities have a supported rate.
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.
Where 37600 pays more and less in Illinois
Vascular surgery
About 37600: External carotid artery ligation
Reports operative ligation of the external carotid artery when a surgeon needs to interrupt its blood flow, such as for control of head-and-neck bleeding.
The surgeon exposes and ties off the external carotid artery in the neck to interrupt blood flow to its branches. The operation may be performed to control severe bleeding in the head or neck or when operative management requires control of external-carotid inflow. Vascular, otolaryngology, and head-and-neck surgeons typically perform it in a hospital operating room.
Choose this code when the artery ligated is the external carotid, rather than the internal or common carotid. The operative report should identify the artery and document the ligation and clinical purpose. The 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. For multiple procedures in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and the others at 50%. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeons require supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 37600
- 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 paid only with supporting documentation.
- Team surgery
- Team surgery not permitted.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU12.11 · 61%
- Practice expense (office) RVU5.59 · 28%
- Malpractice RVU2.13 · 11%
424
Medicare services in 2024 · #3683 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.
37600 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Illinois, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
This code covers ligation or occlusion involving the internal or common carotid artery, not the external carotid.
No office rate
This code applies to ligation of a major artery in the neck when the procedure is not the specific external carotid service reported with 37600.
Compare 37600 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.
4 of 4 payment localities
Chicago →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$758.24
East St. Louis →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$719.54
Rest Of Illinois →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$686.15
Suburban Chicago →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$725.14
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37600 billing questions
How does 37600 differ from ligation of the internal or common carotid?
Use 37600 when the external carotid artery is ligated. Codes 37605 and 37606 address the internal or common carotid instead.
What documentation supports reporting 37600?
The operative report should identify the external carotid artery, describe its exposure and ligation, and state the clinical reason for interrupting its blood flow.
Can modifier 50 be used for bilateral ligation?
No. The CMS bilateral adjustment does not apply to this code, and modifier 50 is inappropriate.
Is related postoperative care included?
Yes. The 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care.
How are other procedures in the same session paid?
The highest-valued procedure is paid in full, and other procedures in the same session are subject to the standard 50% multiple-procedure reduction.
Can an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?
An assistant at surgery may be paid. Co-surgeons are paid only when supporting documentation is provided; team surgery is not permitted.
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.
4,6693757F,,Pt w/o pseudobulbaffect/als,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,6703758F,,Pt ref pulm fx test/peakflow,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,6713759F,,Pt scrn dysphag/wt loss/nutr,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,67237600,,Ligation xtrnl carotid art,A,,12.11,5.59,NA,5.59,,2.13,19.83,19.83,0,090,0.09,0.84,0.07,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,67337605,,Ligation int/com carotid art,A,,13.92,2.74,NA,2.74,,3.56,20.22,20.22,0,090,0.09,0.84,0.07,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,67437606,,Lig int/com carotid art occl,A,,8.59,10.54,NA,10.54,,3.61,22.74,22.74,0,090,0.09,0.84,0.07,2,0,2,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
4,67537607,,Lig/banding angioacs av fstl,A,,6.09,2.79,NA,2.79,,1.48,10.36,10.36,0,090,0.09,0.84,0.07,2,0,1,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00