No office rate
31500 describes emergency endotracheal intubation. Use 31502 for an exchange of an existing tracheostomy tube before the tract is established.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
31502 Tracheostomy exchange Medicare reimbursement rates in Georgia
Report this service when a clinician exchanges a tracheostomy tube before the tract has matured, such as during an early postoperative tube change. Compare 31502 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 31502 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
$30.19–$31.10
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.
Airway management
About 31502: Early tracheostomy tube exchange
Report this service when a clinician exchanges a tracheostomy tube before the tract has matured, such as during an early postoperative tube change.
This service covers exchanging a tracheostomy tube while the tract is still immature, when the opening may not yet provide a stable passage for reinsertion. It is typically performed by an otolaryngologist, surgeon, or other clinician managing the airway, often at the bedside in a hospital or other facility. The clinical context is an existing tracheostomy requiring a tube change—not creation of a new tracheostomy or emergency endotracheal intubation.
Report the service when the record supports that the tube was changed before the tract was established, including the reason for the exchange and the airway procedure performed. The CMS global period is 0 days, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. If multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and the others are subject to the standard 50% reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this single midline airway service. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this code, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 31502
- 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 RVU0.63 · 69%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.20 · 22%
- Malpractice RVU0.08 · 9%
8.4K
Medicare services in 2024 · #1569 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.
31502 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Georgia, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
31600 is for creating a planned tracheostomy; 31502 is for changing the tube in an existing tracheostomy before its tract has matured.
No office rate
31603 describes emergency transtracheal airway access. It is not a tube exchange through an existing tracheostomy opening.
Compare 31502 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
$31.10
Rest Of Georgia →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$30.19
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31502 billing questions
How is this different from emergency endotracheal intubation?
This code is for exchanging an existing tracheostomy tube before the tract has matured. Emergency endotracheal intubation establishes an airway through the mouth or nose instead.
Does the record need to identify the tract as immature?
Yes. Document that the tube exchange occurred before the tract was established, along with the reason for the change and the procedure performed.
Is same-day postoperative care separately reported?
No. The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care.
Can an assistant, co-surgeon, or surgical team be reported?
Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this code. Co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
Can modifier 50 be used?
No. The service concerns a single midline airway, so modifier 50 is inappropriate.
What happens when another procedure is performed in the same session?
Under the standard multiple-procedure reduction, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and the other procedures are subject to a 50% reduction.
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.
3,57131420,,Epiglottidectomy,A,,11.14,9.43,NA,9.43,,1.63,22.20,22.20,0,090,0.10,0.76,0.14,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,5723142F,,Barium swallow test ordered,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
3,57331500,,Insert emergency airway,A,,2.93,0.57,NA,0.57,,0.48,3.98,3.98,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,57431502,,Change of windpipe airway,A,,0.63,0.20,NA,0.20,,0.08,0.91,0.91,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,57531505,,Diagnostic laryngoscopy,A,,0.59,1.99,,0.68,,0.07,2.65,1.34,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,5763150F,,Forceps esoph biopsy done,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
3,57731510,,Laryngoscopy with biopsy,A,,1.87,4.31,,1.02,,0.26,6.44,3.15,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,3,0,0,0,0,9,31505,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00