# CPT 00120

> CPT 00120 is an anesthesia code, so Medicare has no single national rate: payment is (base units + time units) × the locality's anesthesia conversion factor — for example, about $191.41 for a 60-minute case in Dallas, TX under the Q3 2021 release, before sequestration.

## What it is

Anesthesia care for operations on the external, middle, or inner ear - including biopsy - when no more specific ear-anesthesia code applies. It is the general entry for ear surgery, separate from the dedicated codes nearby for a simple examination under anesthesia or for placing a small drainage tube in the eardrum. Procedures in this group include mastoid surgery, ear reconstruction, and other ear operations more involved than those two specific procedures.

## Selected release

- Release: Q3 2021 (2021 C)
- Effective: July 1 – September 30, 2021
- Status indicator: J
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: not published
- Facility national allowed amount: not published
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: not published
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: not published
- Facility practice expense RVU: not published
- Malpractice RVU: not published
- Conversion factor: 34.8931
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q3 2021)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu21c-updated-6302021.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU21_JUL.csv, row 4,997
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/00120/2021/C
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/00120/2021/C
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:10:45+00:00