Modifier 80 / 81 / 82 / AS (Assistant at Surgery)
CPT modifiers indicating assistant surgeon services: 80 (physician assistant), 81 (minimum assistant), 82 (when qualified resident unavailable), and HCPCS AS (PA, NP, CNS).
1 min read · Last reviewed May 23, 2026
At a glance
- Category
- Billing
- Primary sources
- 2
- Workspace handoff
- ask d3 →
Where this comes up
This shows up in revenue-cycle work — claim scrubbing, charge entry, posting, A/R follow-up, and month-end close. Billers and practice managers hit this term when reconciling a payment, working a denial queue, or auditing why a claim aged past 60 days.
Full definition
What it is in practice
CMS recognizes assistant-surgeon modifiers. The PFS assistant-surgeon indicator determines whether assistant payment is allowed for a given CPT.
How it shows up in your practice
Check the PFS indicator before billing an assistant. Document the assistant's role.
Sources
- CMS — Modifier Referencehttps://www.cms.gov/medicare/coding-billing/modifiers
- CMS — Physician Fee Schedulehttps://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/fee-schedules/physician
Confirm assistant-surgeon billing in Ask D3
Open ask d3 →Related terms
D3rx is a healthcare-billing and compliance research aid maintained by D3rx Inc. Articles are drafted by an LLM (Anthropic Claude) against primary HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and state-regulator publications, and reviewed for restraint and source fidelity by the D3rx team.
Reviewer status: a named credentialed reviewer (CHC, CHPC, or healthcare attorney) is being engaged. Until that engagement is finalized, this page does not claim credentialed review.
Related across the archive
- GlossaryModifier General ReferenceCatch-all reference for the wide CPT and HCPCS modifier set used in physician and outpatient billing.
- GlossaryPhysician Fee Schedule (PFS)The CMS Medicare reimbursement schedule for physician and certain non-physician practitioner services, published annually.
- GlossaryAnesthesia Modifiers (QY, QK, AD, AA)HCPCS modifiers identifying the anesthesia care team's involvement in a procedure.
- GlossaryCardiac Stress Test (93015-93018)CPT codes for cardiac stress testing, with separate codes for the global service, supervision, and interpretation.
- GlossaryCharge CaptureThe process of identifying and recording every billable service furnished during a patient encounter.
- GlossaryClean Claim RatePercentage of claims accepted by the payer on first submission without edits or rejections.
- GlossaryConversion FactorThe dollar value multiplied by the geographically-adjusted Relative Value Unit to determine the Medicare-allowable amount for a service.
- BillingAWV + Problem Visit Same Day: How to Bill CorrectlyYes, you can bill AWV and a problem visit the same day. Here's how to do it correctly with modifier -25.
This glossary entry is a research aid for billing and compliance staff. It does not provide legal, medical, or financial advice and does not replace counsel. References cited link to primary sources at HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and the relevant payer or industry body.