# CPT 29881

> Medicare paid $561.59 for CPT 29881 in the office (non-facility) setting and $561.59 in a facility under the Q3 2018 Physician Fee Schedule, effective July 2018. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2018, when it increased 0.6%.

## What it is

Minimally invasive (arthroscopic) knee surgery to remove or trim a torn meniscus, the cartilage cushion between the thighbone and shinbone, including any related joint debridement. It is one of the most frequently performed orthopedic procedures.

## Selected release

- Release: Q3 2018 (2018 C)
- Effective: July 1 – September 30, 2018
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $561.59
- Facility national allowed amount: $561.59
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 7.03
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 7.20
- Facility practice expense RVU: 7.20
- Malpractice RVU: 1.37
- Conversion factor: 35.9996
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q3 2018)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/medicare/medicare-fee-for-service-payment/physicianfeesched/downloads/rvu18c1.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU18_JUL.csv, row 7,326
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/29881/2018/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/29881/2018/C
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:08:27+00:00