No office rate
Choose 31660 for thermoplasty of one lobe. Choose 31661 when two or more lobes are treated in the session.
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CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
31661 Bronchial thermoplasty Medicare reimbursement rates in Texas
Bronchoscopic thermal treatment of airway smooth muscle in two or more lobes for severe asthma is reported once for the treated session. Compare 31661 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Texas.
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 31661 in Texas?
Texas has 8 payment localities in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the 8 payment areas shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
No 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 31661 pays more and less in Texas
Pulmonary procedure
About 31661: Bronchial thermoplasty, multiple lobes
Bronchoscopic thermal treatment of airway smooth muscle in two or more lobes for severe asthma is reported once for the treated session.
Bronchial thermoplasty uses a flexible bronchoscope to deliver controlled thermal energy to airway walls, reducing airway smooth muscle. Pulmonologists perform it for selected patients with severe persistent asthma, usually in a hospital or ambulatory surgery facility. Treatment is commonly staged across separate sessions, with the lobes treated documented for each procedure.
Report 31661 once when thermoplasty treats two or more lobes during the session; report 31660 when only one lobe is treated. The procedure report should identify the lobes treated and describe the bronchoscopic treatment. CMS assigns a 0-day global period, so same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included. When related endoscopies are performed together, endoscopy-family pricing applies. Modifier 50 is inappropriate. Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for this service, and co-surgeons and team surgery are not permitted.
CMS billing rules for 31661
- Global period
- Minor procedure with a 0-day global period: same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included.
- Multiple procedures
- Endoscopy family pricing applies when related endoscopies are performed together.
- 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 RVU4.14 · 77%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.85 · 16%
- Malpractice RVU0.36 · 7%
14
Medicare services in 2024 · #6096 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.
31661 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Texas, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
31647 reports initial bronchial valve insertion, a different bronchoscopic treatment. It does not describe thermal treatment of airway smooth muscle.
$75.54–$79.97
31651 reports additional bronchial valve insertion, not bronchial thermoplasty. Select based on whether valves or thermal energy were used.
Compare 31661 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.
8 of 8 payment localities
| Payment locality | Office | Facility |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | Office Unavailable | Facility $179.25 |
| Beaumont | Office Unavailable | Facility $175.29 |
| Brazoria | Office Unavailable | Facility $176.90 |
| Dallas | Office Unavailable | Facility $178.12 |
| Fort Worth | Office Unavailable | Facility $177.99 |
| Galveston | Office Unavailable | Facility $177.53 |
| Houston | Office Unavailable | Facility $184.12 |
| Rest Of Texas | Office Unavailable | Facility $176.08 |
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31661 billing questions
When should 31661 be selected instead of 31660?
Use 31661 when bronchial thermoplasty treats two or more lobes during the session. Use 31660 when treatment is limited to one lobe.
How many units are reported when three lobes are treated?
Report one unit of 31661 for the session treating two or more lobes; the code is not reported once per lobe.
What should the procedure documentation identify?
Document that bronchial thermoplasty was performed and identify the lobes treated. That supports selection of 31661 rather than the one-lobe code, 31660.
Can modifier 50 be used when both lungs are treated?
No. CMS identifies bilateral adjustment as inapplicable because the descriptor or anatomy makes modifier 50 inappropriate.
How are related endoscopies handled when performed in the same session?
CMS endoscopy-family pricing applies when related endoscopies are performed together. Same-day preoperative and postoperative care is included in the 0-day global period.
Can an assistant surgeon or co-surgeon be paid for this service?
Medicare does not pay an assistant at surgery for 31661. 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.
3,65831653,,Bronch ebus samplng 3/> node,A,,4.84,36.58,,1.25,,0.47,41.89,6.56,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,65931654,,Bronch ebus ivntj perph les,A,,1.37,2.43,,0.29,,0.13,3.93,1.79,0,ZZZ,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66031660,,Bronch thermoplsty 1 lobe,A,,3.90,0.84,NA,0.84,,0.34,5.08,5.08,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,3,0,1,0,0,9,31622,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
3,66131661,,Bronch thermoplsty 2/> lobes,A,,4.14,0.85,NA,0.85,,0.36,5.35,5.35,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,3,0,1,0,0,9,31622,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
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