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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01

15769 Soft-tissue graft Medicare reimbursement rates in Guam

Reports placement of a patient's own soft tissue harvested by direct excision to restore volume or fill a defect during reconstructive surgery. Compare 15769 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Guam.

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 15769 in Guam?

Guam has 1 payment locality in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the payment area shown below, using the same CMS release.

Office / nonfacility

No supported rate

Facility setting

$462.29

1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.

Payment area: Hawaii, Guam

One mapped payment locality.

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.

Find 15769 in your payment locality →

Reconstructive surgery

About 15769: Autologous soft-tissue graft by excision

Reports placement of a patient's own soft tissue harvested by direct excision to restore volume or fill a defect during reconstructive surgery.

The surgeon excises the patient's own soft tissue, such as fat, dermis, or fascia, and grafts it to another site. This service may be part of reconstruction for a contour defect after trauma, tumor removal, or prior surgery. Plastic and reconstructive surgeons and other surgeons performing the repair typically provide it in an operating room or another procedural setting.

Report the service when documentation supports both direct-excision harvest and graft placement; the harvest and placement are integral to the grafting service, not separate services under this code. The record should identify the tissue, harvest method, recipient site, and reconstructive purpose. Medicare assigns a 90-day global period, including the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. When multiple procedures are performed in one session, the highest-valued is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard 50% multiple-procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Medicare does not pay an assistant-at-surgery claim for this service, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.

CMS billing rules for 15769

Global period
Major surgery with a 90-day global period: the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care are 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 RVU6.51 · 48%
  • Practice expense (office) RVU5.77 · 42%
  • Malpractice RVU1.33 · 10%

5.6K

Medicare services in 2024 · #1805 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.

15769 compared with similar codes

Office rates for Guam, from the same CMS release.

15770

Composite tissue graft

Dermis, fat, and fascia

No office rate

Use 15769 for other autologous soft tissue harvested by direct excision. Use 15770 when the graft is specifically a dermis-fat-fascia graft.

15771

Fat grafting

50 cc or less, body sites

$700.52

Use 15771 for autologous fat grafting to the trunk, breasts, scalp, arms, or legs when fat is harvested by liposuction and the code's volume criteria are met.

15773

Fat grafting

25 cc or less, specified sites

$660.72

Use 15773 for liposuction-harvested autologous fat grafting to the specified head and neck sites when its volume criteria are met; direct-excision harvest supports 15769 instead.

Compare 15769 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.

1 of 1 payment localities

Office and facility base rates · shared scale starting at $0

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How this local rate is calculated

Each RVU component is multiplied by its own geographic practice cost index (GPCI). The three adjusted components are added, then multiplied by the conversion factor. These are the inputs used for 15769 in Hawaii, Guam.

PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv

1,541

Code
15769
Physician work
6.51
Practice expense
5.77
Malpractice
1.33

GPCI2026.csv

46

Locality
Hawaii, Guam
Physician work
1.000
Practice expense
1.137
Malpractice
0.579
Facility calculation for 15769 in Hawaii, Guam
ComponentRVULocality factorAdjusted
Physician work6.51× 1.0006.5100
Practice expense5.77× 1.1376.5605
Malpractice1.33× 0.5790.7701
Total RVUs13.8406
Conversion factor× 33.4009

Facility rate, Hawaii, Guam$462.29

Explore RVUs, geographic factors and the full formula

Facility

Facility calculation inputs
ComponentRVULocal GPCI
Work6.511
Practice expense5.771.137
Malpractice1.330.579

(6.51 × 1 + 5.77 × 1.137 + 1.33 × 0.579) × $33.4009 = $462.29

The office and facility calculations use their respective practice-expense RVUs. The facility amount here is the physician fee, not a separate hospital or facility bill.

15769 billing questions

How does this differ from 15771 or 15773?

This code is for soft tissue harvested by direct excision. Codes 15771 and 15773 describe autologous fat grafting when the fat is harvested by liposuction; select the code based on the documented harvest method and applicable site and volume criteria.

Can the harvest be billed separately?

The direct-excision harvest and graft placement are part of this grafting service. Do not report the harvest separately as though it were an independent service under this code.

Should modifier 50 be used for grafting on both sides?

No. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this service. Report the service based on the documented grafting performed.

What postoperative care is included?

The 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care.

Can an assistant surgeon or co-surgeon be reported?

Medicare does not pay an assistant-at-surgery claim for this service. Co-surgeon and team-surgery reporting 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.

RVUs for 15769PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv, line 1,541 (RVU26D)
Geographic factors for Hawaii, GuamGPCI2026.csv, line 46 (RVU26D)