How much does Medicare pay for CPT 31579?

Medicare allowed an average of $185.10 per service and paid $140.98 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $742.03, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 31579?

Exam to assess movement of vocal cord flaps using an endoscope. It was billed 91,017 times to 68,888 Medicare beneficiaries by 955 providers in 2024.

Does 31579 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $196.72 in an office setting and $118.42 in a facility. The office rate is generally higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that single payment; in a hospital those are billed separately by the facility.

Which specialty bills 31579 most?

Otolaryngology, with 82,533 services from 797 clinicians. Next are Speech Language Pathologist, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner.

CPT 31579

Exam to assess movement of vocal cord flaps using an endoscope

$185.10Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 91,017 services

Providers submitted

$742.03

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$185.10

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$140.98

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $742.03 for this code and Medicare allowed $185.10 — 4.0× less. That gap is normal and means nothing on its own: Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of what is billed, so the submitted figure describes a hospital chargemaster, not a price anyone paid. Of the allowed amount Medicare paid $140.98 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $196.72
Hospital / facility: $118.42

The office rate is higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that payment. In a hospital the facility bills those separately, so the clinician's share is smaller — the total cost to Medicare is usually higher, not lower. 77,501 services were billed in an office setting and 13,516 in a facility.

Services: 91,017
Beneficiaries: 68,888
Providers billing it: 955
Total allowed: $16,847,247

What Medicare pays for CPT 31579

Across 91,017 services billed by 955 providers to 68,888 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $185.10 per service. That is 1.3 services per beneficiary, so this is a code patients typically receive more than once. The allowed amount is the figure that matters: it is what Medicare and the patient together owe, set by the fee schedule and adjusted for local practice costs. What a provider chose to submit has no bearing on it.

Who bills 31579

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Otolaryngology	82,533	61,383	$185.43	797
Speech Language Pathologist	6,374	5,652	$191.89	106
Physician Assistant	1,231	1,119	$145.15	35
Nurse Practitioner	632	530	$151.49	12
Emergency Medicine	113	85	$175.18	1
General Surgery	52	51	$183.70	1
Undefined Physician type	37	28	$197.93	1
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	29	24	$195.27	1
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine	16	16	$190.82	1

31579 reimbursement by state

Two different numbers. Allowed is what Medicare actually allowed in that state, which includes the local practice-cost adjustment. Standardized strips that geographic adjustment out of the payment, so it is the column to use when comparing states — a difference there reflects how the code was billed, not what it costs to run a practice locally.

State	Services	Allowed	Standardized pmt	Providers
California	15,186	$194.65	$132.25	126
New York	12,769	$221.12	$144.70	94
Texas	8,171	$181.89	$139.93	74
Pennsylvania	5,534	$165.96	$123.20	65
Florida	5,290	$184.91	$136.88	81
Maryland	4,718	$194.83	$138.39	33
Ohio	4,063	$145.43	$112.14	45
Massachusetts	3,118	$175.87	$120.92	39
New Jersey	2,842	$217.43	$146.24	32
North Carolina	2,261	$171.73	$137.40	23
Illinois	2,117	$184.96	$131.93	20
Kansas	1,954	$168.75	$137.04	20
Michigan	1,825	$144.24	$106.79	16
Indiana	1,771	$164.60	$137.07	15
South Carolina	1,698	$175.83	$141.38	17
Colorado	1,612	$173.34	$126.79	12
Washington	1,533	$161.92	$109.31	16
Missouri	1,443	$177.52	$143.15	21
Georgia	1,410	$184.43	$139.46	26
Louisiana	1,126	$145.56	$113.47	8
Virginia	1,098	$161.84	$123.85	15
Nevada	963	$191.45	$149.23	5
Arizona	890	$182.48	$140.17	18
Minnesota	862	$194.60	$143.61	17
Connecticut	710	$206.08	$143.47	6
Iowa	640	$172.93	$141.70	13
Alabama	628	$140.94	$123.27	13
Utah	594	$175.00	$139.24	9
Arkansas	583	$143.43	$121.22	5
District of Columbia	579	$201.93	$130.57	3
Kentucky	550	$174.11	$144.29	7
Mississippi	372	$174.48	$145.66	7
Tennessee	365	$162.95	$133.68	7
Oregon	363	$158.63	$109.83	9
Wisconsin	322	$136.54	$112.49	7
Oklahoma	189	$178.27	$152.46	6
Rhode Island	168	$199.59	$150.47	2
Montana	134	$135.81	$97.63	5
Idaho	104	$146.59	$126.09	4
Nebraska	97	$107.48	$85.53	2
Hawaii	76	$200.51	$150.65	2
Vermont	69	$99.17	$68.91	2
Delaware	61	$186.30	$117.14	3
New Mexico	61	$180.88	$138.35	1
South Dakota	48	$189.67	$143.64	2
New Hampshire	39	$198.31	$151.66	1
North Dakota	11	$113.31	$93.43	1

Related codes

31575Diagnostic exam of voice box$115.61
31525Diagnostic exam of voice box$165.31
31500Emergent insertion of breathing tube into windpipe$136.48
31505Diagnostic exam of voice box$73.30
31574Injection of substance to augment voice box$936.87
31571Injection into vocal cords$186.98
31502Change of breathing tube in windpipe$29.63
31541Removal of growth of tongue and/or stripping of vocal cord$330.99
31573Injection of drug into side of voice box$321.45

Billing this code is not the same as earning it

An allowed amount is revenue to a practice, not income to a clinician. It funds staff, premises, equipment and supplies before anyone is paid. What clinicians actually earn is published separately by the Department of Labor, and what industry pays them is published separately again by CMS — this site carries both.

What doctors are paid →·Look up a clinician →·All procedure codes →

Where this comes from. CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider and Service, 2024. It covers fee-for-service Original Medicare Part B only — not Medicare Advantage, not Medicaid, and not commercial insurance, which typically pays more for the same code.

How it is averaged. CMS publishes one average per provider per code. Every figure here is re-weighted by the number of services, so a clinician who billed the code 4,000 times counts 4,000 times more than one who billed it twice. CMS also suppresses any provider-code pair with fewer than 11 beneficiaries, so low-volume practice is missing from these totals by design.