How much does Medicare pay for CPT 28232?

Medicare allowed an average of $235.84 per service and paid $184.27 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $834.89, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 28232?

Incision to lengthen toe tendon. It was billed 5,266 times to 2,654 Medicare beneficiaries by 141 providers in 2024.

Does 28232 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $256.24 in an office setting and $140.48 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 28232 most?

Podiatry, with 4,784 services from 128 clinicians. Next are Ambulatory Surgical Center, Orthopedic Surgery.

CPT 28232

Incision to lengthen toe tendon

$235.84Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,266 services

Providers submitted

$834.89

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$235.84

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$184.27

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $834.89 for this code and Medicare allowed $235.84 — 3.5× 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 $184.27 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $256.24
Hospital / facility: $140.48

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. 4,338 services were billed in an office setting and 928 in a facility.

Services: 5,266
Beneficiaries: 2,654
Providers billing it: 141
Total allowed: $1,241,933

What Medicare pays for CPT 28232

Across 5,266 services billed by 141 providers to 2,654 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $235.84 per service. That is 2.0 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 28232

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Podiatry	4,784	2,447	$245.41	128
Ambulatory Surgical Center	299	108	$139.78	6
Orthopedic Surgery	183	99	$142.48	7

28232 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
Florida	682	$256.78	$204.58	17
Arkansas	651	$176.12	$155.23	3
California	390	$301.05	$218.67	14
Arizona	326	$203.29	$161.23	7
Texas	269	$217.18	$171.65	9
Delaware	260	$158.47	$127.25	3
Mississippi	249	$154.18	$148.67	2
Illinois	206	$187.58	$157.03	3
Utah	152	$308.31	$261.87	4
Massachusetts	125	$310.05	$231.86	4
New York	124	$267.28	$193.17	4
Oklahoma	123	$290.28	$249.63	5
Indiana	120	$221.82	$186.87	5
Michigan	117	$261.19	$205.25	5
Virginia	100	$303.38	$243.70	4
South Carolina	100	$249.18	$205.05	3
Tennessee	95	$258.70	$217.41	4
Maryland	85	$262.52	$212.15	4
Kentucky	81	$270.96	$228.33	2
Kansas	81	$274.41	$237.01	3
New Jersey	78	$340.94	$232.14	3
Georgia	74	$249.69	$204.11	3
North Carolina	73	$168.53	$137.08	3
Montana	72	$240.97	$179.84	3
Wyoming	71	$258.43	$191.45	1
Ohio	67	$318.01	$236.61	3
Oregon	61	$282.50	$221.51	2
Louisiana	58	$299.73	$260.38	3
Washington	53	$297.06	$212.55	2
Minnesota	49	$135.61	$114.41	1
Missouri	41	$274.09	$224.02	2
Pennsylvania	37	$331.89	$267.35	2
New Hampshire	32	$135.44	$101.24	1
Alabama	32	$112.97	$103.91	1
Nebraska	30	$134.93	$104.50	1
Wisconsin	27	$259.28	$212.76	2
South Dakota	27	$137.84	$112.10	1
Connecticut	26	$358.16	$253.21	1
Colorado	22	$313.89	$229.39	1

Related codes

28285Correction of toe joint deformity$553.86
28270Incision of joint capsule of foot and toe$344.55
28272Incision of toe joint capsule$247.81
28299Correction of bunion$1890.67
28234Incision to release foot tendon$200.33

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.