CPT code 00561 designates anesthesia services for infants under one year undergoing major cardiac surgery involving the heart, pericardium and great vessels with use of a pump oxygenator (cardiopulmonary bypass). This code captures a high-acuity, resource-intensive perioperative service that is central to pediatric cardiac surgical care and hospital operating room resource planning. Nationally, it represents a critical component of bundled surgical and facility case costing and is relevant to payer policy for high-complexity pediatric cardiac procedures.

Key payers covered in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare and Medicare. Readers will find an overview of clinical context for the code, typical sites of service, common billing considerations, and the types of benchmarks and policy elements payers commonly evaluate for high-acuity pediatric anesthesia services. The publication highlights expected use cases for CPT code 00561, implications for hospital and anesthesiology department billing lines, and the role this code plays in payer authorization and reimbursement frameworks.

Data not available in the input: associated taxonomies, ICD-10 diagnoses, related codes, and service line details.