Billing code 17311: Mohs surgeryMedicare rate & RVUs in Oregon
Report the first Mohs stage, including up to five tissue blocks, for tumors at specified sites or surgery directly involving specified deep structures.
Medicare pays $659.38–$714.63 for 17311 in the office in Oregon, from Rest Of Oregon to Portland. Which amount applies depends on the service address.
Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.
On this page 9 sections
What 17311 covers
Mohs micrographic surgery removes a skin cancer, usually basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma, in mapped stages. The Mohs surgeon excises the tumor, maps and color-codes the tissue, oversees frozen-section processing, and personally examines slides for peripheral and deep margins. Code 17311 covers the first stage and up to five tissue blocks for a tumor on the head, neck, hands, feet, or genitalia. It also covers tumors at other sites when surgery directly involves muscle, cartilage, bone, tendon, major nerves, or vessels. Mohs-trained dermatologic surgeons usually perform this work in an office.
Report one unit per distinct tumor’s first stage. Document the tumor site, biopsy diagnosis, stage maps, block count, and surgeon’s slide interpretation. Report additional stages with 17312 and each block beyond five in a stage with 17315; report qualifying defect repairs separately. The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care. For multiple procedures in one session, CMS pays the highest-valued procedure in full and reduces other procedures subject to the multiple-procedure rule to 50%. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for 17311; assistant-at-surgery payment is prohibited, and co-surgeon and team-surgery arrangements are not permitted.
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.
Where 17311 pays more and less in Oregon
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Portland | $714.63 | $292.33 |
| Rest Of Oregon | $659.38 | $280.80 |
How the 17311 rate is calculated
Each of 17311’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.
How the rate is built · 17311
RVUs × geographic indexes × conversion factor
Swap in your local Medicare rate.
Work 6.05Practice expense 13.33Malpractice 0.59
All indexes start at 1.000 (the national rate). Enter a ZIP or drag a slider.
Payment rules and modifiers for 17311
The CMS indicators that decide how 17311 is paid alongside other services.
CMS payment indicators · 17311
Mohs surgery
| Rule | CMS value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Global period | 000 | Same-day global: pre- and post-op care on the day of the procedure is included. |
| Multiple procedures | 2 | Standard reduction: highest-valued procedure at 100%, others at 50%. |
| Bilateral (modifier 50) | 0 | The 150% bilateral adjustment doesn’t apply. |
| Assistant at surgery (80/81/82/AS) | 1 | Not paid (statutory restriction). |
| Co-surgeons (62) | 0 | Not permitted. |
| Team surgery (66) | 0 | Not permitted. |
| Professional/technical | 0 | Physician service: no professional/technical split. |
What modifiers do to the payment
Modifier 51 · payment effect
With and without the modifier
17311 without 51 · national office
$667.02
Mohs surgery
17311-51 · Second procedure: 50%
$333.51
When this isn’t the highest-valued procedure in the session, Medicare pays 50% of its fee schedule amount (the highest is paid at 100%).
17311 compared with similar codes
Compare codes
17311 vs 17313 vs 17312 vs 11642 vs 88305: national Medicare rates
Swap in your local Medicare rate.
How to choose
- 17313Mohs surgery
- 17313 covers the first Mohs stage for the trunk, arms, or legs without qualifying deep-structure involvement. Use 17311 for specified head, neck, hand, foot, or genital sites, or when surgery directly involves specified deep structures at any site.
- 17312Mohs surgery
- 17312 is an add-on for each stage after the first in a Mohs procedure begun with 17311. Report 17311 once per distinct tumor for its initial stage.
- 11642Skin lesion excision
- 11642 covers conventional excision of a malignant lesion at specified facial sites when the excised diameter is 1.1–2.0 cm. Code 17311 requires the Mohs surgeon to map the tissue and personally examine frozen sections for complete margin assessment.
- 88305Tissue pathology exam
- 88305 may describe pathology examination of a distinct diagnostic specimen, such as a biopsy needed to establish the diagnosis before same-day Mohs surgery. Examination of the Mohs-stage tissue is included in 17311.
17311 billing questions
When should 17311 be chosen over 17313?
Use 17311 when the tumor is on the head, neck, hands, feet, or genitalia, or when surgery at any site directly involves muscle, cartilage, bone, tendon, major nerves, or vessels. Use 17313 for trunk, arm, or leg tumors without that deep-structure involvement.
How are two separate tumors treated by Mohs on the same day reported?
Report the appropriate first-stage code once for each distinct tumor. Use modifier 59 when needed to identify a separate lesion, or XS when the lesions are on separate anatomical structures; the lower-valued procedure is subject to CMS’s multiple-procedure reduction.
Can the Mohs surgeon bill 88305 or 88331 for the frozen sections?
No. The Mohs code includes the surgeon’s pathology work on the Mohs sections. Pathology may be separately reportable for a distinct diagnostic specimen, such as a same-day biopsy needed to establish the diagnosis before Mohs surgery.
Is repair of the Mohs defect included?
No. A qualifying layered or complex closure, adjacent tissue transfer, flap, or graft may be reported separately. A separately reported repair may be subject to CMS’s multiple-procedure reduction.
What if the first stage requires more than five tissue blocks?
Report add-on code 17315 for each block beyond five in the stage. The first five blocks are included in 17311.
Can an E/M be billed on the day of Mohs surgery?
Yes, when the E/M is significant and separately identifiable from the routine same-day preoperative and postoperative care included in 17311. Append modifier 25 to the E/M code.
Where these rates come from
FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.
CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027
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