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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

35860 Artery exploration Medicare reimbursement rates in Maine

Reports open exploration of an extremity artery for a suspected vascular problem when the exploration ends without surgical repair. Compare 35860 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Maine.

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 35860 in Maine?

Maine has 2 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 2 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.

Office / nonfacility

No supported rate

Facility setting

$716.53–$728.69

2 of 2 localities have a supported rate.

Lowest: Rest Of Maine

Highest: Southern Maine

A spread of $12.16 per service.

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 35860 in your payment locality →

Vascular surgery

About 35860: Extremity artery exploration without repair

Reports open exploration of an extremity artery for a suspected vascular problem when the exploration ends without surgical repair.

A surgeon exposes and examines an artery in an arm or leg to investigate a suspected problem such as bleeding or injury. The service is performed in an operative setting, commonly by a vascular surgeon, and is reported when the exploration does not lead to surgical repair. If the surgeon identifies a problem and repairs it, the definitive procedure—not exploration without repair—describes the work performed.

Choose this code for exploration of an extremity artery, rather than exploration of vessels in the neck, chest, or abdomen. The operative report should identify the extremity site, the reason for exploration, the findings, and that no repair was performed. This major surgery has a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and related postoperative care. When multiple procedures occur 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 inappropriate. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 35860

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 RVU14.87 · 64%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU4.66 · 20%
  • Malpractice RVU3.69 · 16%

2K

Medicare services in 2024 · #2453 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.

35860 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Maine, from the same CMS release.

35800

Neck exploration

Without surgical repair

No office rate

Both describe exploration without repair, but 35800 concerns vessels in the neck; this code concerns an extremity artery.

35840

Abdominal exploration

Postoperative complication evaluation

No office rate

This code is for an extremity artery. Use 35840 for exploration of vessels in the abdomen.

35870

Vascular graft repair

Graft defect repair

No office rate

This code describes exploration without repair. Code 35870 concerns repair of a defect in a blood vessel graft.

Compare 35860 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.

2 of 2 payment localities

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

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35860 billing questions

When should this code be chosen instead of an extremity artery repair code?

Use it when the surgeon explores an extremity artery but does not perform a surgical repair. If a repair is performed, report the applicable definitive repair procedure instead.

Can exploration be reported separately when the surgeon repairs the artery?

This code describes exploration that is not followed by surgical repair. Do not use it to separately report the exploration leading to a repair.

Can modifier 50 be used when both limbs are explored?

No. CMS identifies bilateral adjustment as inappropriate for this code. Report the services according to the operative work and applicable coding rules.

How does the 90-day global period affect postoperative care?

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

Can an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?

An assistant at surgery may be paid. Co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation; 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.

RVUs for 35860PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 4,418 (RVU26D)