Billing code 32151: Lung foreign body removalMedicare rate & RVUs in Redding

In Redding, Medicare pays $940.40 for 32151 in a facility. There’s no office rate.

Check a contract rate as a % of Medicare · 32151 nationwide

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

What 32151 covers

32151 represents an open chest operation to retrieve a foreign object embedded within lung tissue. A thoracic surgeon typically performs it in a hospital operating room, such as when an aspirated object or penetrating fragment cannot be retrieved through the airway and requires direct lung dissection. The operative report should establish that the object was within the lung, describe the open approach, and document its removal. This is distinct from removing a foreign body elsewhere in the chest or excising a lung lesion.

Report the operation for the lung foreign body removal; the major-surgery global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When other procedures are performed in the same session, CMS pays the highest-valued procedure in full and applies the standard reduction to the others. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. An assistant at surgery may be paid; co-surgeon payment requires supporting documentation, and team surgery is 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.

How Redding compares for 32151

Across 109 of 109 payment localities, the facility rate for 32151 runs from $860.98 in Nebraska to $1,200.36 in Alaska*. Redding pays $940.40. The RVUs are the same everywhere; the geographic indexes change the dollars.

Every other payment area

32151 rates by state

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

See 32151 in every payment locality

How the 32151 rate is calculated

Each of 32151’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 32151

32151 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

Codes related to 32151

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

How 32151 has changed in Redding

Price 32151 for an earlier date of service

Where the Redding rate applies

Redding is a Medicare payment area, not a city. Our Census mapping connects it to 32 cities and communities in California. Some span more than one payment area; confirm with the service ZIP.

• 32151 in Redding
• 32151 in Anderson
• 32151 in Bella Vista
• 32151 in Big Bend
• 32151 in Burney
• 32151 in Cassel
• 32151 in Castella
• 32151 in Centerville

Browse all communities in California

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