No office rate
Choose 20912 for septal cartilage harvest; 20910 identifies costochondral cartilage harvest.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
20912 Cartilage graft Medicare reimbursement rates in Massachusetts
Harvest of nasal septal cartilage for grafting during nasal reconstruction is reported when the surgeon obtains cartilage separately from recipient-site work. Compare 20912 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Massachusetts.
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 20912 in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts 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
$441.84–$476.89
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.
Surgical graft harvest
About 20912: Nasal septal cartilage graft harvest
Harvest of nasal septal cartilage for grafting during nasal reconstruction is reported when the surgeon obtains cartilage separately from recipient-site work.
A surgeon harvests cartilage from the nasal septum for use as graft material in a nasal reconstruction. Otolaryngologists, facial plastic surgeons, and plastic surgeons may perform the harvest during an operative repair or reconstructive procedure. The harvested cartilage can support or reshape nasal structures, while the recipient-site procedure addresses the underlying deformity or defect.
Report the code when the operative documentation supports a distinct harvest of septal cartilage for grafting, alongside the procedure using the graft when separately reportable. The code has a 90-day global period: the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care are included. When multiple procedures are performed in the same session, the highest-valued procedure is paid in full and other procedures are subject to the standard multiple-procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Assistant-at-surgery payment requires documented medical necessity; co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 20912
- 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
- Assistant at surgery is paid only with documentation of medical necessity.
- Co-surgeons
- Co-surgeons not permitted.
- Team surgery
- Team surgery not permitted.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU6.38 · 49%
- Practice expense (office) RVU5.65 · 43%
- Malpractice RVU1.00 · 8%
864
Medicare services in 2024 · #3072 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.
20912 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Massachusetts, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
20920 covers fascia harvest for grafting, not cartilage obtained from the nasal septum.
$411.51–$455.53
20900 is for bone graft harvest; use 20912 when the harvested graft material is nasal septal cartilage.
No office rate
30465 describes repair of nasal vestibular stenosis. It is a recipient-site procedure, not the septal cartilage harvest itself.
Compare 20912 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
Metropolitan Boston →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$476.89
Rest Of Massachusetts →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$441.84
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20912 billing questions
How is this different from 20910?
This code is for cartilage harvested from the nasal septum. Code 20910 is used for costochondral cartilage harvest.
Can the graft harvest be reported with the nasal reconstruction?
Report the harvest with the recipient-site procedure when the surgeon separately obtains septal cartilage for grafting and the documentation supports both services. Check applicable coding edits for the specific procedure pair.
Does this code include postoperative visits?
Its 90-day global period includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care.
Can modifier 50 be used when cartilage is taken from both sides of the septum?
No. CMS identifies bilateral adjustment as inappropriate for this code; the descriptor or anatomy makes modifier 50 inappropriate.
When is an assistant at surgery payable?
Assistant-at-surgery payment is limited to cases with documentation of medical necessity. 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.
1,80420900,,Removal of bone for graft,A,,2.93,8.51,,1.40,,0.48,11.92,4.81,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,80520902,,Removal of bone for graft,A,,4.47,1.94,NA,1.94,,0.83,7.24,7.24,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,80620910,,Remove cartilage for graft,A,,5.39,7.35,NA,7.35,,1.15,13.89,13.89,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,80720912,,Remove cartilage for graft,A,,6.38,5.65,NA,5.65,,1.00,13.03,13.03,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,80820920,,Removal of fascia for graft,A,,5.37,4.55,NA,4.55,,0.79,10.71,10.71,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,1,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,80920922,,Removal of fascia for graft,A,,6.76,11.41,,5.82,,1.51,19.68,14.09,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,81020924,,Removal of tendon for graft,A,,6.51,6.33,NA,6.33,,1.23,14.07,14.07,0,090,0.10,0.69,0.21,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00