# CPT 31231

> Medicare paid $202.03 for CPT 31231 in the office (non-facility) setting and $64.90 in a facility under the Q1 2021 Physician Fee Schedule, effective January 2021. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This is a 2.2% increase from the previous quarter.

## 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: Q1 2021 (2021 A)
- Effective: January 1 – March 31, 2021
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $202.03
- Facility national allowed amount: $64.90
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 1.10
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 4.54
- Facility practice expense RVU: 0.61
- Malpractice RVU: 0.15
- Conversion factor: 34.8931
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q1 2021)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu21a-updated-01052021.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU21_JAN.csv, row 7,969
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/31231/2021/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/31231/2021/A
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:10:16+00:00