{
    "code": "00537",
    "coding_system": "CPT",
    "canonical_url": "https://localishealth.com/cpt/00537/2018/D",
    "release_specific_url": "https://localishealth.com/cpt/00537/2018/D",
    "description": "Anesthesia care during catheter-based electrical procedures inside the heart, including electrophysiology mapping studies and ablation, where catheters threaded through a vein are used to find and burn or freeze the tissue causing an abnormal rhythm. These cases run in a specialized cath or EP lab rather than an operating room, and often need deep sedation or general anesthesia because the patient must lie still for hours. It is distinct from anesthesia codes for open heart surgery, where the chest is opened.",
    "answer": {
        "question": "How much does Medicare pay for CPT 00537?",
        "text": "CPT 00537 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 $485.01 for a 180-minute case in Dallas, TX under the Q4 2018 release, before sequestration."
    },
    "release": {
        "schedule": "pfs",
        "year": 2018,
        "quarter": "D",
        "label": "Q4 2018",
        "effective": "October 1 – December 31, 2018",
        "revision": 1
    },
    "status": {
        "code": "J",
        "non_facility_payable": false,
        "facility_payable": false
    },
    "national_rates_usd": {
        "office_non_facility": null,
        "facility": null,
        "sequestration_applied": false,
        "gpci": 1
    },
    "rvus": {
        "work": null,
        "practice_expense_non_facility": null,
        "practice_expense_facility": null,
        "malpractice": null
    },
    "formula": "(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor",
    "conversion_factor": 35.9996,
    "source": {
        "label": "Physician relative value file (Q4 2018)",
        "cms_url": "https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu18d.zip",
        "local_source_url": "https://localishealth.com/sources/physician-fee-schedule/2018/D",
        "file": "PPRRVU18_OCT.csv",
        "row": 4672,
        "sha256": "c6312c12acd1b8ed78b409e8508357929aa7e764e333ec568ebb9c0774b7dc4d"
    },
    "modified_at": "2026-08-04T03:08:37+00:00"
}