CPT code 15576: Pedicle flap, nose, ears, eyelids, or lips2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $794.61 for 15576 nationally in the office and $563.47 in a hospital or facility. Local office rates run $712.63–$1,010.27.

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

What 15576 covers

This service forms a skin flap that remains attached to its blood supply, either as a direct pedicle or a tube, for reconstruction of the nose, ears, eyelids, or lips. The surgeon may transfer the flap during the same operative session or prepare it for staged transfer. Plastic surgeons and other surgeons performing facial reconstruction may use it for defects after tumor removal, trauma, or another operation, when the chosen reconstruction uses a pedicle flap rather than local tissue rearrangement or a free graft.

Select this code by the recipient site: the listed facial structures distinguish it from other pedicle-flap formation codes. Document the defect, recipient site, flap design, vascular attachment, and whether transfer occurred. Medicare includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care 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% multiple-procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery; 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 15576 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

15576 rates by state

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

How the 15576 rate is calculated

Each of 15576’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 15576

15576 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

15576 compared with similar codes

How to choose

15574Pedicle flapFace, neck, hands, feet, other sites

Both codes describe pedicle-flap formation, but 15576 is selected for the nose, ears, eyelids, or lips; 15574 covers its own listed anatomic sites.

14060Local flap repairEyelid, nose, ear, or lip up to 10 cm²

Use 14060 for adjacent tissue transfer or rearrangement at specified facial sites. Use 15576 when the reconstruction forms a direct or tubed pedicle flap.

15630Flap stagingEyelid, nose, ear, or lip

15576 describes pedicle-flap formation, with or without transfer. 15630 describes later flap delay or division and inset at the nose, ears, eyelids, or lips.

Codes related to 15576

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