No office rate
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.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
15852 Dressing change Medicare reimbursement rates in Georgia
Reports a nonburn wound dressing change performed under anesthesia beyond local anesthesia when the patient cannot tolerate the change without it. Compare 15852 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Georgia.
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 15852 in Georgia?
Georgia has 2 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 2 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
No supported rate
Facility setting
$38.79–$39.74
2 of 2 localities have a supported rate.
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.
Postoperative care
About 15852: Nonburn dressing change under anesthesia
Reports a nonburn wound dressing change performed under anesthesia beyond local anesthesia when the patient cannot tolerate the change without it.
CPT 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.
CMS billing rules for 15852
- Global period
- Minor procedure with a 0-day global period: same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included.
- Multiple procedures
- Standard multiple procedure reduction: the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and others at 50% when performed in the same session.
- 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 RVU0.84 · 72%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.20 · 17%
- Malpractice RVU0.12 · 10%
6.6K
Medicare services in 2024 · #1698 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.
15852 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Georgia, from the same CMS release.
$12.02–$13.64
Use 15853 for suture or staple removal without anesthesia beyond local anesthesia; 15852 is for an anesthesia-requiring dressing change.
$15.89–$18.05
Use 15854 when both sutures and staples are removed without anesthesia beyond local anesthesia. It does not describe changing the dressing.
Compare 15852 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.
2 of 2 payment localities
Atlanta →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$39.74
Rest Of Georgia →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$38.79
Need rates for a whole code list?
Fee-sheet and API access are in early access. Tell us which codes and locations your team needs.
15852 billing questions
When should I report 15852 instead of a routine dressing change?
Use 15852 for a nonburn dressing change that requires anesthesia beyond local anesthesia. A routine change performed without that anesthesia is not the service described by this code.
Is 15852 the right code when sutures or staples are removed?
Choose a suture or staple removal code when removal is the service performed. Code 15852 describes changing a dressing, not removing closure material.
What documentation supports 15852?
Document the wound and its location, the dressing work performed, and why the patient required anesthesia beyond local anesthesia for the change.
How does the 0-day global period affect the claim?
Same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included in the service. The code has a 0-day global period.
How are other procedures in the same session paid?
The highest-valued procedure is paid in full, and other procedures in the same session are subject to the standard multiple-procedure reduction.
Can I report an assistant, co-surgeon, team surgeon, or modifier 50?
Medicare does not pay an assistant-at-surgery claim for 15852, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted. Do not append modifier 50 for this service.
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.
1,58215845,,Skin and muscle repair face,A,,13.96,12.42,NA,12.42,,2.59,28.97,28.97,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,2,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58315847,,Exc skin abd add-on,C,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,YYY,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58415851,,Removal sutr/staple req anes,A,,1.07,0.55,NA,0.55,,0.13,1.75,1.75,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58515852,,Dressing change not for burn,A,,0.84,0.20,NA,0.20,,0.12,1.16,1.16,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58615853,,Removal sutr/stapl xreq anes,A,,0.00,0.39,,0.39,NA,0.01,0.40,0.40,5,ZZZ,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58715854,,Removal sutr&stapl xreq anes,A,,0.00,0.52,,0.52,NA,0.01,0.53,0.53,5,ZZZ,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58815860,,Iv njx tst vasc flo flap/grf,A,,1.90,0.52,NA,0.52,,0.37,2.79,2.79,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00