# CPT 31231

> Medicare paid $197.77 for CPT 31231 in the office (non-facility) setting and $65.68 in a facility under the Q3 2020 Physician Fee Schedule, effective July 2020. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2020, when it decreased 3.6%.

## What it is

A thin lighted scope is passed through the nostril so the physician can look directly at the nasal passages, the turbinates, and the drainage openings of the sinuses. This is a look-and-assess exam only: nothing is cut, removed, or repaired. It is normally done in the office with a numbing and decongestant spray, and both sides of the nose are checked in the same sitting.

## Selected release

- Release: Q3 2020 (2020 C)
- Effective: July 1 – September 30, 2020
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $197.77
- Facility national allowed amount: $65.68
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 1.10
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 4.25
- Facility practice expense RVU: 0.59
- Malpractice RVU: 0.13
- Conversion factor: 36.0896
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q3 2020)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu20c-updated-06192020.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU20_V0618.csv, row 8,008
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/31231/2020/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/31231/2020/C
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:09:46+00:00