Work RVU values for the highest-volume orthopedic procedures, sorted by value, with the compensation math they feed. CY2026 CMS Physician Fee Schedule.
| CPT code | Procedure (plain language) | Work RVU | Global period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22612 | Lumbar spinal fusion, posterolateral approach (single level) | 22.94 | 90 days |
| 23472 | Total shoulder replacement (anatomic or reverse) | 21.58 | 90 days |
| 27447 | Total knee replacement | 19.11 | 90 days |
| 27130 | Total hip replacement | 19.11 | 90 days |
| 27236 | Partial hip replacement / fixation for femoral neck fracture | 17.17 | 90 days |
| 29827 | Shoulder arthroscopy with rotator cuff repair | 15.20 | 90 days |
| 63047 | Lumbar laminectomy for spinal stenosis | 14.99 | 90 days |
| 29888 | Arthroscopic ACL reconstruction | 13.94 | 90 days |
| 63030 | Lumbar discectomy (removing herniated disc material pressing on a nerve) | 11.70 | 90 days |
| 25607 | Surgical fixation (ORIF) of a distal radius fracture | 9.32 | 90 days |
| 28296 | Bunion correction with bone realignment (metatarsal osteotomy) | 8.04 | 90 days |
| 29881 | Knee arthroscopy with removal of torn meniscus (one compartment) | 6.85 | 90 days |
| 25605 | Setting a broken wrist (distal radius) without surgery, with manipulation | 6.09 | 90 days |
| 28285 | Hammertoe correction | 5.48 | 90 days |
| 64721 | Carpal tunnel release | 4.85 | 90 days |
| 26055 | Trigger finger release | 3.03 | 90 days |
| 29826 | Shoulder arthroscopy with subacromial decompression (add-on code) | 2.93 | add-on |
| 99204 | New patient office visit, higher complexity | 2.60 | n/a |
| 99214 | Established patient office visit, higher complexity | 1.92 | n/a |
| 62323 | Lumbar/caudal epidural steroid injection with imaging guidance | 1.76 | 0 days |
| 99203 | New patient office visit, moderate complexity | 1.60 | n/a |
| 27096 | Sacroiliac (SI) joint injection with imaging | 1.44 | 0 days |
| 99213 | Established patient office visit, moderate complexity | 1.30 | n/a |
| 20611 | Major joint injection with ultrasound guidance | 1.07 | 0 days |
| 20610 | Injection or aspiration of a major joint (knee, hip, shoulder), no imaging | 0.77 | 0 days |
| 20550 | Injection of a tendon sheath or ligament | 0.73 | 0 days |
Surgeons look these values up for one reason: compensation models run on them. A typical employed orthopedic contract pays a dollar rate per wRVU generated, so annual production times that rate is the paycheck math. A worked example for a joint-replacement-heavy practice:
Two operational notes hiding in that math. First, the office-visit line is enormous: clinic volume, not the OR, often decides whether a surgeon hits production targets, which is why unanswered phones are a production problem. Second, 90-day global periods mean post-op visits generate no separate wRVU, so filling clinic slots with bundled follow-ups instead of new patients quietly starves production. Our global periods guide covers the scheduling side of that problem.
A work RVU (relative value unit) is Medicare's measure of the physician work in a service: the time, skill, and intensity involved. Total RVUs also include practice expense and malpractice components, but compensation models almost always run on the work RVU alone.
Most employed and hospital-affiliated compensation models pay a dollar conversion factor per wRVU generated, often against a base salary draw. Annual wRVUs times the contract's dollar-per-wRVU rate, benchmarked against specialty survey percentiles, drives the number.
CMS revises the Physician Fee Schedule annually, and specialty societies petition for revaluations. Always verify against the current-year PFS before contract math; the values here reflect the CY2026 fee schedule.
No. CPT descriptors are AMA-copyrighted, so this table uses plain-language descriptions of each procedure. The codes and wRVU values themselves are public CMS fee schedule data.
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