15011
No office rateHrv skn cll ssp agrft 1st 25
Choose 15040 for donor skin intended for a cultured skin autograft; 15011 describes harvesting for a skin-cell suspension autograft.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
15040 Skin harvest Medicare reimbursement rates in California
Reports the initial harvest of donor skin for a cultured skin autograft, commonly used when extensive burns or wounds require expanded patient-derived skin. Compare 15040 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in California.
Amounts below use the non-QP conversion factor for participating physicians. These are base physician payments before claim-level adjustments, not patient costs or total hospital charges.
What does Medicare pay for 15040 in California?
California has 29 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 29 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$287.56–$361.34
29 of 29 localities have a supported rate.
Lowest: Chico
Highest: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty)
A spread of $73.78 per service.
Facility setting
$112.58–$131.12
29 of 29 localities have a supported rate.
Lowest: Chico
Highest: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty)
A spread of $18.54 per service.
These are locality ranges, not averages or address-specific quotes. A facility-setting amount covers the physician service; it does not include a hospital’s separate bill. Choose a locality below to inspect its calculation, compare other payment areas, or price a percentage of Medicare.
Where 15040 pays more and less in California
29 payment localities
$287.56 to $361.34
Skin grafting
About 15040: Cultured skin graft harvest
Reports the initial harvest of donor skin for a cultured skin autograft, commonly used when extensive burns or wounds require expanded patient-derived skin.
A clinician obtains a small sample of the patient’s skin to provide cells for a cultured skin autograft. Burn and plastic surgeons commonly perform the harvest for patients with extensive burns or other large wounds where donor skin is limited. The sample is cultured for later grafting; this code represents the harvest, not placement of the cultured skin at the wound.
Report 15040 for the initial harvested area, up to 25 sq cm; use 15041 for each additional 25 sq cm or part thereof. Documentation should identify the donor site, the harvested area, and the intent to produce a cultured autograft. The procedure has a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this service, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 15040
- Global period
- Minor procedure with a 0-day global period: same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included.
- Bilateral procedures
- Bilateral adjustment does not apply; the descriptor or anatomy makes modifier 50 inappropriate.
- Assistant at surgery
- Statutory restriction: assistant at surgery is not paid.
- Co-surgeons
- Co-surgeons not permitted.
- Team surgery
- Team surgery not permitted.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU1.95 · 24%
- Practice expense (office) RVU5.86 · 72%
- Malpractice RVU0.38 · 5%
131
Medicare services in 2024 · #4655 by national volume
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.
15040 compared with similar codes
Office rates for California, from the same CMS release.
$632.52–$785.64
15050 describes pinch grafting for a small defect, not harvesting skin for culture and later grafting.
$376.37–$464.40
15002 reports recipient-site preparation on the trunk or extremities; 15040 reports harvesting donor skin for culture.
Compare 15040 by payment locality
Find the payment area for your service address, then open its rate page for calculation inputs, release history and the percentage-of-Medicare tool. A city may cross payment-area boundaries; the ZIP lookup above helps resolve the location.
29 of 29 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Bakersfield | Office $288.62 | Facility $113.63 |
| Chico | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| El Centro | Office $287.62 | Facility $112.64 |
| Fresno | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Hanford-Corcoran | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (Los Angeles/Orange Cnty) | Office $307.78 | Facility $118.90 |
| Madera | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Merced | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Modesto | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Napa | Office $333.65 | Facility $123.23 |
| Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura | Office $306.21 | Facility $117.50 |
| Redding | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Rest Of California | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario | Office $291.65 | Facility $116.67 |
| Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom | Office $301.91 | Facility $116.23 |
| Salinas | Office $300.80 | Facility $115.76 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad | Office $308.06 | Facility $117.11 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (Marin Cnty) | Office $353.12 | Facility $128.01 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley (San Francisco/San Mateo/Alameda/Contra Costa Cnty) | Office $352.69 | Facility $127.58 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (San Benito Cnty) | Office $361.34 | Facility $131.12 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (Santa Clara Cnty) | Office $359.58 | Facility $129.35 |
| San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles | Office $295.98 | Facility $114.13 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville | Office $311.11 | Facility $117.13 |
| Santa Maria-Santa Barbara | Office $301.98 | Facility $115.82 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma | Office $314.24 | Facility $118.19 |
| Stockton | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Vallejo | Office $333.03 | Facility $122.61 |
| Visalia | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
| Yuba City | Office $287.56 | Facility $112.58 |
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15040 billing questions
How does this differ from code 15011?
Code 15040 reports harvesting skin for a cultured skin autograft. Code 15011 is for harvesting skin for a skin-cell suspension autograft, a different graft method.
Does 15040 include placement of the cultured skin?
No. It covers obtaining the donor skin sample, not preparing the recipient wound or placing the later cultured graft.
How is the harvested area counted?
Report 15040 for the first 25 sq cm. Code 15041 represents each additional 25 sq cm or part thereof.
Can modifier 50 be used?
No. The descriptor and anatomy make bilateral reporting with modifier 50 inappropriate.
What same-day care is included?
The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
Where these rates come from
FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense, and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indices and the applicable conversion factor. Unavailable or separately priced services are labeled rather than assigned a made-up amount.
Source: RVU26D. Effective 2026-10-01 through the day before 2027-01-01.
1,4791501F,,Not initial eval for cond,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,4801502F,,Pt queried pain fxn w/ instr,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,4811503F,,Pt queried symp resp insuff,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,48215040,,Harvest cultured skin graft,A,,1.95,5.86,,1.08,,0.38,8.19,3.41,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,4831504F,,Pt has resp insufficiency,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,48415050,,Pinch graft up to 2 cm diam,A,,5.43,11.79,,6.48,,0.92,18.14,12.83,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,4851505F,,Pt has no resp insufficiency,I,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,XXX,0.00,0.00,0.00,9,9,9,9,9,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00