Summary & Overview
CPT 00770: Anesthesia for Major Abdominal Vascular Procedures
CPT 00770 denotes anesthesia services for major abdominal vascular procedures — high-acuity operations on the major abdominal blood vessels such as embolectomy, thrombectomy, aneurysm repair, and bypass grafting. Nationally, this code captures complex intraoperative anesthetic management associated with significant physiologic risk and resource utilization, making it a critical code for hospital anesthesia service lines and perioperative billing. Major commercial payers in this review include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, and UnitedHealthcare. Readers will find a concise explanation of what CPT 00770 represents clinically and operationally, an overview of common billing contexts and modifiers, and guidance on documentation elements that typically accompany major vascular anesthesia claims. The summary covers common clinical indications tied to vascular occlusion or stenosis diagnoses and distinguishes CPT 00770 from related anesthesia codes used for upper abdominal intraperitoneal procedures. This publication also outlines expected places of service and the service type to help payers, coders, and billing staff correctly classify encounters. Data not available in the input will be noted where relevant. The content is intended to clarify coding scope, common billing adjacencies, and clinical context to support accurate claim submission and internal policy alignment.
CPT Code Overview
CPT 00770 describes anesthesia for major abdominal vascular procedures, including procedures such as embolectomy, thrombectomy, reconstruction, repair of aneurysm, bypass graft, and venous anastomosis. This code is used to report anesthesia services provided for extensive vascular surgery involving the major abdominal blood vessels.
Service Type: Anesthesia
Typical Site of Service: Inpatient Hospital (POS 21)
Clinical & Coding Specifications
A 68-year-old patient is admitted to the inpatient hospital for evaluation of acute neurologic symptoms and imaging demonstrates significant occlusive disease of a major abdominal blood vessel requiring surgical intervention such as embolectomy, thrombectomy, aneurysm repair, or bypass graft. The anesthesia team evaluates the patient preoperatively, documents medical history and airway assessment, reviews anticoagulation and organ function, and provides general anesthesia or monitored anesthesia care during the major abdominal vascular procedure. Intraoperative care includes hemodynamic monitoring, vascular access management, blood product readiness, and postoperative handoff to the intensive care unit for continued monitoring and pain management.
Modifiers:
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QS: Monitored anesthesia care service. Use when the anesthesia service provided is monitored anesthesia care rather than general anesthesia for the listed vascular procedure. -
QX: CRNA service with medical direction by a physician. Use when a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist furnishes the anesthesia service under the medical direction of a physician and billing requirements for the CRNA/medical direction relationship are met.
Associated provider taxonomies:
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207L00000X— Anesthesiology. Physicians specialized in administering anesthesia and perioperative care. -
367500000X— Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. Advanced practice registered nurses who deliver anesthesia services under varying supervision models.