CPT 00548: Anesthesia for Thoracic Procedures on Trachea and Bronchi
CPT code 00548 denotes anesthesia for procedures involving opening the chest wall with operative work on the trachea and bronchi. This code captures anesthetic services for complex thoracic airway surgeries that typically occur in an inpatient operating room and carry high clinical and resource intensity. Nationally, accurate use of this code affects case tracking, facility planning, and payer reimbursement for high-risk airway procedures.
Key payers in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. The publication outlines what CPT code 00548 represents clinically and operationally, and provides readers with context on expected sites of service and service type. It also connects the code to related anesthesia case groupings and adjacent CPT anesthesia codes used for thoracic and cardiac procedures.
Readers will find concise benchmarks and policy-relevant points: how this code is positioned among related anesthesia codes, common clinical indications, and implications for coding accuracy in high-acuity thoracic airway cases. The piece is intended for clinicians, billing professionals, and policy analysts seeking a clear national-level summary of CPT code 00548 and its role in documenting anesthesia for tracheal and bronchial surgical procedures.
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Billing Code Overview
CPT code 00548 describes anesthesia services provided for procedures that require opening the chest wall (thoracotomy) and performing operative work on the trachea and bronchi. This service involves anesthetic management of patients undergoing airway and intrathoracic procedures on the windpipe (trachea) and major air passages to the lungs (bronchi).
Service Type: Anesthesia for thoracic airway surgery
Typical Site of Service: Inpatient operating room or procedural suite within a hospital
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
National commercial rates for CPT 00548 cluster around BUCA’s average commercial benchmark of $68.70, while payers show meaningful variation. Cigna’s mean is notably higher at $92.20 and Blue Cross Blue Shield’s mean sits at $64.90, with Aetna ($58.00) and UnitedHealth Group ($67.30) near BUCA. Maximums and minimums vary by payer, but BUCA’s average provides a straightforward mid-market reference point for commercial contracting conversations.
Dispersion measured as the interquartile range (P75 minus P25) highlights differences in payor consistency: Aetna’s IQR is $28.00, Blue Cross Blue Shield’s IQR is $23.00, BUCA’s IQR is $37.90, Cigna’s IQR is $52.40, and UnitedHealth Group’s IQR is $28.90. Cigna displays the widest IQR at $52.40, indicating the greatest price spread, while Blue Cross Blue Shield is the tightest at $23.00, indicating the most compressed middle 50% of rates.