No office rate
Choose 26540 for collateral ligament repair without a tendon graft; choose 26541 when the repair uses a tendon graft.
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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
26541 Ligament repair Medicare reimbursement rates in Texas
Reports repair of a hand metacarpophalangeal or interphalangeal joint collateral ligament using a tendon graft for ligament deficiency or instability. Compare 26541 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Texas.
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 26541 in Texas?
Texas has 8 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 8 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
No 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 26541 pays more and less in Texas
Hand surgery
About 26541: Hand joint ligament repair with tendon graft
Reports repair of a hand metacarpophalangeal or interphalangeal joint collateral ligament using a tendon graft for ligament deficiency or instability.
This operation repairs a collateral ligament at a metacarpophalangeal or interphalangeal joint of the hand using a tendon graft. A hand or orthopedic surgeon may perform it when the ligament is too damaged or deficient for a direct repair, such as in a chronically unstable finger joint. It is typically performed in an operating room, often in a facility setting.
Report the code when the operative report supports collateral ligament repair with a tendon graft, rather than a repair without a graft or a different joint reconstruction. Documentation should identify the digit, joint, ligament, instability or deficiency, and graft use. 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 the others at 50%. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this code. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeons require supporting documentation, and team surgery is not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 26541
- 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 RVU8.59 · 36%
- Practice expense (office) RVU13.70 · 57%
- Malpractice RVU1.65 · 7%
400
Medicare services in 2024 · #3739 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.
26541 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Texas, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
26545 describes collateral ligament reconstruction with a tendon graft at the metacarpophalangeal joint. Distinguish it from this repair code by the documented procedure and joint.
No office rate
26548 describes collateral ligament reconstruction with a tendon graft at an interphalangeal joint. Use the code matching the documented reconstruction rather than a graft-based repair.
Compare 26541 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.
8 of 8 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | Office Unavailable | Facility $820.45 |
| Beaumont | Office Unavailable | Facility $754.52 |
| Brazoria | Office Unavailable | Facility $785.67 |
| Dallas | Office Unavailable | Facility $792.54 |
| Fort Worth | Office Unavailable | Facility $788.68 |
| Galveston | Office Unavailable | Facility $789.23 |
| Houston | Office Unavailable | Facility $819.43 |
| Rest Of Texas | Office Unavailable | Facility $770.93 |
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26541 billing questions
How does this differ from 26540?
This code is for collateral ligament repair using a tendon graft. Use 26540 for a collateral ligament repair without a tendon graft.
What documentation supports reporting this code?
Document the affected digit and joint, the collateral ligament pathology, why graft repair was performed, and the tendon graft used.
Can modifier 50 be appended for treatment of both hands?
No. The CMS bilateral adjustment does not apply to this code, and modifier 50 is inappropriate.
Is related postoperative care separately reported during the global period?
The 90-day global period includes related postoperative care and the preoperative visit on the day before surgery.
Can an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?
An assistant at surgery may be paid. Co-surgeons are paid only with 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.
2,63226535,,Revise finger joint,A,,5.27,6.30,NA,6.30,,1.00,12.57,12.57,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63326536,,Revise/implant finger joint,A,,6.40,14.27,NA,14.27,,1.22,21.89,21.89,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63426540,,Repair hand joint,A,,6.44,12.66,NA,12.66,,1.24,20.34,20.34,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63526541,,Repair hand joint with graft,A,,8.59,13.70,NA,13.70,,1.65,23.94,23.94,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63626542,,Repair hand joint with graft,A,,6.78,12.78,NA,12.78,,1.30,20.86,20.86,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63726545,,Reconstruct finger joint,A,,6.93,12.94,NA,12.94,,1.31,21.18,21.18,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
2,63826546,,Repair nonunion hand,A,,10.56,17.16,NA,17.16,,2.02,29.74,29.74,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,1,2,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00