No office rate
Choose 31720 for the initial therapeutic aspiration in the sequence; 31725 is for a subsequent aspiration.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
31725 Airway clearance Medicare reimbursement rates in Oregon
Reports a subsequent therapeutic aspiration to clear tracheobronchial secretions, such as retained mucus in a patient with a tracheostomy. Compare 31725 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Oregon.
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 31725 in Oregon?
Oregon 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
$69.05–$71.28
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.
Respiratory procedures
About 31725: Subsequent therapeutic airway aspiration
Reports a subsequent therapeutic aspiration to clear tracheobronchial secretions, such as retained mucus in a patient with a tracheostomy.
This service is a subsequent therapeutic removal of secretions from the tracheobronchial tree, commonly by suction catheter or through a tracheostomy tube. It may be performed in a hospital or other facility when a patient has retained mucus or airway secretions that require further clearance. The code distinguishes a subsequent airway-clearance service from the initial service; it is not the code for bronchoscopic aspiration.
Report the subsequent service when the record supports that it follows an initial therapeutic aspiration, and document the clinical need, method, airway findings, and work performed. The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care. For procedures in the same session, Medicare pays the highest-valued procedure in full and other procedures at 50%. Modifier 50 is inappropriate for this code. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery, and co-surgeon and team-surgery billing are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 31725
- 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 RVU1.67 · 79%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.30 · 14%
- Malpractice RVU0.14 · 7%
15
Medicare services in 2024 · #6068 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.
31725 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Oregon, from the same CMS release.
$304.59–$330.04
31645 describes initial therapeutic aspiration performed through bronchoscopy. 31725 is for a subsequent service using a nonbronchoscopic airway-clearance method.
No office rate
31646 is the subsequent bronchoscopic aspiration code. Use 31725 when the subsequent airway clearance is performed without bronchoscopy.
Compare 31725 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
Portland →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$71.28
Rest Of Oregon →
Office / nonfacility
Unavailable
Facility
$69.05
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31725 billing questions
How does 31725 differ from 31720?
31725 identifies a subsequent therapeutic aspiration in the airway-clearance sequence. Use 31720 for the initial aspiration.
Is 31725 used for bronchoscopic aspiration?
No. 31725 describes subsequent airway aspiration by a method such as a suction catheter or tracheostomy tube. Bronchoscopic therapeutic aspiration is represented by a different code family.
What documentation supports reporting 31725?
Document the need for further secretion removal, the airway-clearance method, the findings, and that this was a subsequent service after an initial aspiration.
Can modifier 50 be appended?
No. The descriptor and anatomy make modifier 50 inappropriate for this service.
How does Medicare handle other procedures performed in the same session?
The highest-valued procedure is paid in full, and other procedures in that session are paid at 50%. The 0-day global period includes same-day preoperative and postoperative care.
Can an assistant or co-surgeon be reported?
Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this code. Co-surgeon and team-surgery billing 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.
3,6623170F,,Baselin flo cytometry b/4 tx,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
3,66331717,,Bronchial brush biopsy,A,,2.07,6.93,,0.64,,0.18,9.18,2.89,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66431720,,Clearance of airways,A,,1.03,0.24,NA,0.24,,0.09,1.36,1.36,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66531725,,Clearance of airways,A,,1.67,0.30,NA,0.30,,0.14,2.11,2.11,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66631730,,Intro windpipe wire/tube,A,,2.78,31.85,,0.66,,0.55,35.18,3.99,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66731750,,Tracheoplasty cervical,A,,15.01,20.00,NA,20.00,,2.33,37.34,37.34,0,090,0.10,0.76,0.14,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66831755,,Trachplsty trchphryngl fstlj,A,,17.10,28.11,NA,28.11,,2.50,47.71,47.71,0,090,0.10,0.76,0.14,2,0,2,1,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00