Billing code 15852: Dressing changeMedicare rate & RVUs

Medicare pays $38.75 for 15852 nationally in a facility.

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

What 15852 covers

billing code 15852 represents changing a dressing on a wound other than a burn when the patient requires anesthesia beyond local anesthesia for the service. A surgeon or treating physician may perform it for a painful or extensive postoperative wound when a dressing cannot reasonably be changed while the patient is awake. The service may occur in an operating room or another setting equipped to provide the required anesthesia; it is not the routine dressing care commonly performed during an office visit or by nursing staff.

Select the code when the documented service is the dressing change itself and the anesthesia requirement is supported by the patient’s condition and the wound-care circumstances. Record the wound site, reason anesthesia was needed, and work performed. The code has a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. In a same-session multiple-procedure claim, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Do not use modifier 50 for this service. Medicare does not pay an assistant-at-surgery claim for it; 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 15852 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

15852 rates by state

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

How the 15852 rate is calculated

Each of 15852’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 15852

The CMS indicators that decide how 15852 is paid alongside other services.

What modifiers do to the payment

When to use modifier 51

15852 compared with similar codes

How to choose

15851Suture removal

Use 15851 when the service is removal of sutures or staples requiring anesthesia. Use 15852 when the service is changing a nonburn dressing under anesthesia.

15853Closure removal

Use 15853 for suture or staple removal without anesthesia beyond local anesthesia; 15852 is for an anesthesia-requiring dressing change.

15854Suture removal

Use 15854 when both sutures and staples are removed without anesthesia beyond local anesthesia. It does not describe changing the dressing.

Codes related to 15852

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