CPT code 15100: Skin graft, trunk, arms, or legs2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $922.53 for 15100 nationally in the office and $660.34 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $815.96–$1,165.48.

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 15100 covers

The surgeon takes a thin layer of the patient’s own skin from a donor site and places it over a recipient wound on the trunk, arm, or leg. Common situations include coverage after burn treatment, wound excision, or traumatic skin loss. The code identifies the graft by its split-thickness type and recipient location, not by the donor site. It covers the first 100 square centimeters, or the corresponding 1% of body surface area for infants and children.

Select the code using the recipient site, graft type, and documented treated area; report 15101 for additional area increments. Documentation should identify the recipient site, graft type, area, and harvest and placement performed. The day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care are included in the 90-day global period. When multiple procedures occur in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this service; co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.

This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.

Where 15100 pays more and less

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

109 of 109 payment localities

15100 rates by state

Office rate range in each state. Select a state to see its payment localities.

How the 15100 rate is calculated

Each of 15100’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.

Payment rules and modifiers for 15100

15100 has a 90-day global period: related visits in that window are included in the surgery payment.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

15100 compared with similar codes

How to choose

15101Skin graftAdditional area, trunk or limb

15100 reports the initial graft area; 15101 reports additional area increments for the same graft type and recipient region.

15120Skin graftSpecial sites, initial area

Both describe split-thickness grafting, but 15120 is for specified face, scalp, neck, hand, foot, or genital sites rather than the trunk, arms, or legs.

15110Epidermal graftTrunk, arms, or legs

15110 is for an epidermal graft on the trunk, arms, or legs; 15100 is for a split-thickness graft at those sites.

15002Wound preparationTrunk, arms, or legs

15002 describes surgical preparation of a recipient site on the trunk, arms, or legs. It is not the graft-placement code represented by 15100.

Codes related to 15100

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

Where these rates come from

FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.

CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates