J2401 Chloroprocaine Injection Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

HCPCS J2401: Injection of Chloroprocaine Hydrochloride, per 1 mg

HCPCS Level II code J2401 represents the injectable formulation of chloroprocaine hydrochloride, billed per 1 mg. Chloroprocaine is a short-acting local anesthetic used for regional anesthesia, spinal anesthesia, and local infiltration during surgical and procedural care. Accurate coding for single-agent anesthetic injections supports clinical documentation, medication administration records, and appropriate payment flows for anesthetic services nationwide.

Key payers in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise technical overview of the code, typical sites of service, and the clinical context in which chloroprocaine is used. The publication also outlines common modifiers associated with injectable drugs and highlights where data was not available in the input.

This resource is intended to inform billing professionals, compliance officers, and policy analysts about the purpose and clinical application of J2401, and to clarify the scope of information available for benchmarking and policy review at a national level. Data not available in the input will be indicated explicitly where applicable.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicareJ2401HCPCS Level IIinjectionchloroprocainelocal anesthesiaanesthesia billingdrug codeprocedure coding

Billing Code Overview

HCPCS Level II code J2401 describes an injection of chloroprocaine hydrochloride, billed per 1 mg. This drug is a short-acting local anesthetic typically used for regional anesthesia and local infiltration.

Service Type: Injection / Anesthetic administration

Typical Site of Service: Ambulatory surgical centers, hospital operating rooms, procedural clinics, or other settings where regional or local anesthesia is administered.

Data not available in the input.

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A 45-year-old outpatient scheduled for a short-duration surgical procedure under regional or local anesthesia requires infiltration or field block with chloroprocaine hydrochloride for rapid onset and short-acting anesthesia. Typical scenarios include minor dermatologic excisions, short orthopedic closed reductions, or obstetric perineal repairs where brief, dense anesthesia is desired. The medication labeled as J2401 (injection, chloroprocaine hydrochloride, per 1 mg) is drawn and dosed by the administering clinician or pharmacy for the procedure; dosing is documented in the medication administration record and the number of milligrams billed reflects the exact amount administered. The typical site of service is an ambulatory surgery center, hospital outpatient department, emergency department, or physician office-based procedure room. The clinical workflow: pre-procedure assessment and consent, medication preparation and dose verification, local/regional infiltration or block performed by an anesthesia or proceduralist clinician, intra-procedure monitoring for efficacy and adverse reaction, documentation of dose, route, and site, and post-procedure observation until recovery criteria are met. Relevant personnel include the performing physician or advanced practice provider, nursing staff, and pharmacy when prefilled or compounded doses are used. Commonly applied modifiers reflect circumstances such as assistant-at-surgery, bilateral procedure, reduced services, discontinued procedure, medically necessary increased procedural services, or drug wastage reporting (e.g., JW).

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use

HCPCS J7190: Factor VIII (Antihemophilic Factor, Human) per I.U.

HCPCS-J0640-LEUCOVORIN-CALCIUM-INJECTION-50MG

HCPCS J0640: Injection, Leucovorin Calcium, 50 mg

HCPCS-J7110-DEXTRAN-75-INFUSION-500ML

HCPCS J7110: Infusion, Dextran 75, 500 ml

HCPCS-J3530-NASAL-VACCINE-INHALATION

HCPCS J3530: Nasal Vaccine Inhalation

HCPCS-J1628-GUSELKUMAB-INJECTION-1MG

HCPCS J1628: Injection of guselkumab, 1 mg

HCPCS-J1627-GRANISETRON-EXTENDED-RELEASE-INJECTION-0-1-MG

HCPCS Level II J1627: Granisetron Extended-Release Injection, 0.1 mg

HCPCS-J2151-MANNITOL-INJECTION-250MG

HCPCS J2151: Injection, Mannitol, 250 mg

HCPCS-J1040-METHYLPREDNISOLONE-ACETATE-80MG-INJECTION

HCPCS J1040: Injection, Methylprednisolone Acetate, 80 mg

HCPCS-J3150-TESTOSTERONE-PROPIONATE-INJECTION-100MG

HCPCS Level II J3150: Testosterone Propionate Injection, up to 100 mg

HCPCS-J7175-INJECTION-HUMAN-FACTOR-X-REPLACEMENT

HCPCS J7175: Injection, Human Factor X, 1 IU

Showing 1–10 of 991

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
`208100000X`	Anesthesiology	Physicians who administer regional/local anesthetics and manage peri-procedural analgesia.
`207L00000X`	Surgery - General	Surgeons who perform minor procedures requiring local infiltration or field block.
`363A00000X`	Nurse Anesthetist	CRNAs who frequently administer local/regional anesthetic agents in procedural settings.
`353600000X`	Emergency Medicine	Emergency physicians who use short-acting local anesthetics for reductions and minor procedures.
`207V00000X`	Obstetrics & Gynecology	Obstetrician-gynecologists who perform perineal repairs or short procedures requiring local anesthesia.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`L98.9`	Disorder of skin and subcutaneous tissue, unspecified	Local anesthetic infiltration with `J2401` for minor skin excision or debridement procedures.
`S43.401A`	Unspecified dislocation of right shoulder, initial encounter	Short-duration nerve block or local infiltration for closed reduction in the emergency department using chloroprocaine.
`M24.2`	Disorder of ligament	Local anesthetic injection for joint or soft-tissue procedures where brief anesthesia is required.
`N92.1`	Excessive and frequent menstruation with regular cycle	Short procedural anesthetic for outpatient gynecologic procedures or minor operative interventions.
`O70.0`	First degree perineal laceration during delivery	Perineal repair in delivery where short-acting local anesthetic infiltration is used for repair pain control.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`64450`	Injection, anesthetic agent; other peripheral nerve	Peripheral nerve blocks performed using local anesthetic such as chloroprocaine; `J2401` may represent the drug administered during this service.
`64405`	Injection, anesthetic agent; brachial plexus, single injection	Single-injection brachial plexus blocks for upper extremity procedures where a short-acting agent may be used for rapid onset and short duration.
`20552`	Injection(s); single or multiple trigger point(s), 1 or 2 muscle(s)	Local infiltration injections for trigger point or soft-tissue procedures where small-volume local anesthetic is used and billed by drug HCPCS.
`20610`	Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection; major joint or bursa (e.g., shoulder, hip, knee)	Intra-articular injections for diagnostic or therapeutic procedures where local anesthetic may be used for analgesia during the procedure.
`59400`	Obstetric care including antepartum care, vaginal delivery, and postpartum care	Intrapartum repairs or procedures where short-acting local anesthetic infiltration is used for perineal anesthesia.
`99152`	Moderate sedation service provided by the same physician/other qualified health care professional performing the diagnostic or therapeutic service (initial 15 minutes)	Moderate sedation that may be provided in addition to local/regional anesthetic; documentation must separate the sedation service from the local anesthetic drug administration.

`22`	Increased procedural services	Use when work, time, or complexity for the anesthesia infiltration or regional block is substantially greater than typical.
`23`	Unusual anesthesia	Use when general anesthesia is medically necessary and unexpected for a minor procedure where local/regional was planned but required conversion.
`50`	Bilateral procedure	Use when identical local/regional blocks or infiltrations are performed on both sides and payer requires bilateral reporting.
`52`	Reduced services	Use when the planned infiltration/block was partially reduced or not completed, but medication was administered.
`53`	Discontinued procedure	Use when the procedure was started but terminated before completion after administration of the drug.
`62`	Two surgeons	Use when two surgeons of different specialties performed distinct parts of the procedure requiring separate blocks or infiltration coordination.
`78`	Return to OR for related procedure	Use when a patient returns to the operating room for a related service requiring additional local/regional anesthetic.
`JW`	Drug discarded/overage	Use when reporting discarded portion of a single-use vial; appended to the drug HCPCS code when payer requires wastage reporting.
`JZ`	No-notes (no prior authorization)	Use per payer rules when no prior authorization was required and code is applicable (some payers use JZ/JW pairings for injectables).
`LT`	Left side	Use to identify laterality when blocks or infiltrations are side-specific and payer requires laterality reporting.
`RT`	Right side	Use to identify laterality when blocks or infiltrations are side-specific and payer requires laterality reporting.
`AS`	Physician assistant	Use to indicate services performed by a physician assistant when reporting provider-based services and payer requires this modifier.
`QX`	CRNA service with physician absence	Use when a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) provides the anesthesia service and the physician is not present per payer policy.

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