No office rate
Use 15837 for the forearm or hand; use 15836 when the excess skin and subcutaneous tissue being removed are in the upper arm.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
15837 Skin excision Medicare reimbursement rates in Missouri
Removal of redundant skin and underlying tissue from the forearm or hand, commonly during reconstructive contouring when excess tissue causes functional or hygiene problems. Compare 15837 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Missouri.
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 15837 in Missouri?
Missouri has 3 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 3 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$857.28–$910.06
3 of 3 localities have a supported rate.
Facility setting
$616.87–$644.55
3 of 3 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.
Where 15837 pays more and less in Missouri
3 payment localities
$857.28 to $910.06
Plastic surgery
About 15837: Forearm or hand excess skin excision
Removal of redundant skin and underlying tissue from the forearm or hand, commonly during reconstructive contouring when excess tissue causes functional or hygiene problems.
This operation removes redundant skin and underlying fatty tissue from the forearm or hand, then closes the surgical wound. Plastic and reconstructive surgeons may perform it after substantial weight loss when hanging tissue limits movement, complicates hygiene, or causes persistent skin irritation. The operative site must be the forearm or hand; removal of a discrete lesion or treatment of a wound is a different service.
Report the code when the operative work addresses excess skin and subcutaneous tissue at one of these sites. The record should identify the exact site, the clinical problem, and the tissue removed. This major surgery code has a 90-day global period that includes the day-before preoperative visit and 90 days of related postoperative care. 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 50% multiple-procedure reduction. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this code. Assistant-at-surgery payment requires documented medical necessity; co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 15837
- 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 RVU9.31 · 33%
- Practice expense (office) RVU17.02 · 61%
- Malpractice RVU1.73 · 6%
14
Medicare services in 2024 · #6088 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.
15837 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Missouri, from the same CMS release.
$881.03–$932.55
Use 15837 for the forearm or hand. Code 15839 is for an excess-skin site not otherwise specified by a site-specific code.
15830
No office rateExc excessive skin abdomen
Code 15830 concerns excess skin removal from the abdomen, not the forearm or hand.
Compare 15837 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.
3 of 3 payment localities
Metropolitan Kansas City →
Office / nonfacility
$901.22
Facility
$639.34
Metropolitan St. Louis →
Office / nonfacility
$910.06
Facility
$644.55
Rest Of Missouri →
Office / nonfacility
$857.28
Facility
$616.87
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15837 billing questions
How is this code different from 15836?
This code is for excess skin and underlying tissue of the forearm or hand. Code 15836 addresses the upper arm.
Can it be used for removal of a skin lesion?
No. It describes removal of redundant skin and subcutaneous tissue for reconstructive contouring, not excision of a discrete lesion.
Is routine closure separately reported?
The code represents the forearm or hand excess-tissue operation, including the surgical closure that completes it. Do not treat routine closure as a separate service.
Should modifier 50 be used when both sides are treated?
No. CMS identifies bilateral adjustment as inappropriate for this code. Document the treated site or sites in the operative report.
What documentation supports reporting this service?
Record whether the site is the forearm or hand, the symptoms or functional problem from redundant tissue, and the tissue removed during surgery.
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.
1,57315834,,Exc excessive skin hip,A,,11.87,10.24,NA,10.24,,2.19,24.30,24.30,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,1,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57415835,,Exc excessive skin buttock,A,,12.67,10.27,NA,10.27,,2.35,25.29,25.29,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57515836,,Exc excessive skin arm,A,,10.34,9.56,NA,9.56,,1.92,21.82,21.82,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,1,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57615837,,Exc excsv skin forearm/hand,A,,9.31,17.02,,8.67,,1.73,28.06,19.71,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57715838,,Exc excsv submental fat pad,A,,8.04,8.44,NA,8.44,,1.48,17.96,17.96,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57815839,,Exc excessive skn other area,A,,10.24,16.54,,8.25,,1.93,28.71,20.42,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,57915840,,Nerve palsy fascial graft,A,,14.62,9.65,NA,9.65,,2.27,26.54,26.54,0,090,0.10,0.71,0.19,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00