$13.07
15853 reports removal from the initial wound; 15854 reports each additional wound and must be paired with the primary service.
On this page
CMS RVU26D · Effective 2026-10-01
15854 Suture removal Medicare reimbursement rates in Vermont
Reports removal of sutures or staples from each additional wound when a physician or qualified health care professional removes them without anesthesia. Compare 15854 office and facility rates across CMS payment localities in Vermont.
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 15854 in Vermont?
Vermont has 1 payment locality in this comparison. Use the service location to choose the applicable amount. These are the supported base rates for the payment area shown below, using the same CMS release.
Office / nonfacility
$17.36
1 of 1 localities have a supported rate.
Payment area: Vermont
One mapped payment locality.
Facility setting
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.
Postoperative wound care
About 15854: Removal of sutures or staples from additional wound
Reports removal of sutures or staples from each additional wound when a physician or qualified health care professional removes them without anesthesia.
This add-on covers removal of sutures or staples from an additional wound without anesthesia other than local anesthesia. It is used when a physician or other qualified health care professional removes closure material from a wound closed by a different clinician. A typical setting is an office follow-up after surgery or wound repair, when the patient has more than one wound requiring removal.
Report 15854 for each additional wound after the service represented by 15853; it is not reported alone. Documentation should identify the separate wounds, the removal performed, and that the reporting clinician was not the clinician who originally closed them. CMS classifies this as an incident-to service, so it is billed only when performed under physician supervision. As an add-on, it is paid within the primary procedure’s global period.
CMS billing rules for 15854
- Global period
- Add-on code: billed only together with a primary procedure and paid within that procedure's global period.
- Professional and technical components
- Incident-to service: billed only when performed under physician supervision.
Where the value comes from
- Work RVU0.00 · 0%
- Practice expense (office) RVU0.52 · 98%
- Malpractice RVU0.01 · 2%
2.6K
Medicare services in 2024 · #2282 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.
15854 compared with similar codes
Office rates for Vermont, from the same CMS release.
No office rate
Choose 15851 when suture or staple removal requires anesthesia. 15854 is for additional wounds treated without anesthesia other than local.
No office rate
15852 describes a dressing change under anesthesia, not removal of sutures or staples from an additional wound.
Compare 15854 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.
1 of 1 payment localities
Vermont →
Office / nonfacility
$17.36
Facility
Unavailable
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How this local rate is calculated
Each RVU component is multiplied by its own geographic practice cost index (GPCI). The three adjusted components are added, then multiplied by the conversion factor. These are the inputs used for 15854 in Vermont.
PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv
1,587
- Code
- 15854
- Physician work
- 0.00
- Practice expense
- 0.52
- Malpractice
- 0.01
GPCI2026.csv
105
- Locality
- Vermont
- Physician work
- 1.000
- Practice expense
- 0.990
- Malpractice
- 0.506
| Component | RVU | Locality factor | Adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physician work | 0.00 | × 1.000 | 0.0000 |
| Practice expense | 0.52 | × 0.990 | 0.5148 |
| Malpractice | 0.01 | × 0.506 | 0.0051 |
| Total RVUs | 0.5199 | ||
| Conversion factor | × 33.4009 | ||
Office / nonfacility rate, Vermont$17.36
Explore RVUs, geographic factors and the full formula
Office / nonfacility
| Component | RVU | Local GPCI |
|---|---|---|
| Work | 0 | 1 |
| Practice expense | 0.52 | 0.99 |
| Malpractice | 0.01 | 0.506 |
(0 × 1 + 0.52 × 0.99 + 0.01 × 0.506) × $33.4009 = $17.36
The office and facility calculations use their respective practice-expense RVUs. The facility amount here is the physician fee, not a separate hospital or facility bill.
15854 billing questions
When should 15854 be reported instead of 15853?
Use 15853 for the initial wound and 15854 for each additional wound treated during the same service. 15854 is an add-on and cannot be reported alone.
Does 15854 include removal from multiple wounds?
The code represents removal from each additional wound. Document the wounds separately rather than counting individual sutures or staples.
Can 15854 be used when anesthesia is required?
No. 15854 is for removal without anesthesia other than local; removal requiring anesthesia is represented by 15851.
Who may perform the service for Medicare billing?
A physician or other qualified health care professional may perform it, but CMS identifies the service as incident-to and requires physician supervision for billing.
What documentation supports 15854?
Record the additional wound treated, the suture or staple removal, and that the reporting clinician did not originally close the wound. The record should also support the required physician supervision.
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.
1,58415851,,Removal sutr/staple req anes,A,,1.07,0.55,NA,0.55,,0.13,1.75,1.75,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58515852,,Dressing change not for burn,A,,0.84,0.20,NA,0.20,,0.12,1.16,1.16,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58615853,,Removal sutr/stapl xreq anes,A,,0.00,0.39,,0.39,NA,0.01,0.40,0.40,5,ZZZ,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58715854,,Removal sutr&stapl xreq anes,A,,0.00,0.52,,0.52,NA,0.01,0.53,0.53,5,ZZZ,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,0,1,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58815860,,Iv njx tst vasc flo flap/grf,A,,1.90,0.52,NA,0.52,,0.37,2.79,2.79,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,58915876,,Suction lipectomy head&neck,R,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
1,59015877,,Suction lipectomy trunk,R,,0.00,0.00,,0.00,,0.00,0.00,0.00,0,000,0.00,0.00,0.00,2,0,0,0,0,9,,33.4009,09,0,99,0.00,0.00,0.00
10204412,TX,18,HOUSTON,1.008,0.993,1.376
10304412,TX,99,REST OF TEXAS,1.000,0.949,0.903
10403502,UT,09,UTAH,1.000,0.940,0.898
10514512,VT,50,VERMONT,1.000,0.990,0.506
10611302,VA,00,VIRGINIA,1.000,0.983,0.706
10709202,VI,50,VIRGIN ISLANDS,1.000,1.011,0.985
10802402,WA,02,SEATTLE (KING CNTY),1.050,1.227,0.817