How much does Medicare pay for CPT 28270?

Medicare allowed an average of $344.55 per service and paid $270.74 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1547.78, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 28270?

Incision of joint capsule of foot and toe. It was billed 5,187 times to 2,956 Medicare beneficiaries by 142 providers in 2024.

Does 28270 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $365.90 in an office setting and $320.33 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 28270 most?

Podiatry, with 3,530 services from 81 clinicians. Next are Orthopedic Surgery, Ambulatory Surgical Center.

CPT 28270

Incision of joint capsule of foot and toe

$344.55Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,187 services

Providers submitted

$1547.78

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$344.55

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$270.74

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1547.78 for this code and Medicare allowed $344.55 — 4.5× 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 $270.74 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $365.90
Hospital / facility: $320.33

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. 2,757 services were billed in an office setting and 2,430 in a facility.

Services: 5,187
Beneficiaries: 2,956
Providers billing it: 142
Total allowed: $1,787,181

What Medicare pays for CPT 28270

Across 5,187 services billed by 142 providers to 2,956 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $344.55 per service. That is 1.8 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 28270

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Podiatry	3,530	1,950	$322.13	81
Orthopedic Surgery	1,072	679	$168.32	39
Ambulatory Surgical Center	585	327	$802.77	22

28270 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	996	$371.27	$287.85	21
California	727	$340.20	$237.26	19
New York	517	$391.03	$283.01	10
Illinois	399	$357.57	$290.47	7
Mississippi	316	$260.84	$251.41	3
Ohio	230	$320.12	$257.95	7
Texas	218	$244.91	$193.01	9
Alabama	192	$314.23	$276.65	4
South Carolina	175	$221.14	$183.15	8
New Jersey	149	$520.42	$350.34	3
Georgia	139	$373.63	$315.01	6
Oklahoma	138	$262.57	$234.70	4
Tennessee	134	$262.78	$235.48	5
Arizona	118	$205.86	$168.21	5
Idaho	90	$436.98	$363.53	2
Arkansas	77	$261.17	$224.31	3
North Carolina	75	$467.52	$388.40	3
Michigan	62	$393.33	$318.03	3
New Hampshire	55	$555.86	$431.67	2
Iowa	45	$489.25	$402.35	2
Kansas	39	$488.85	$406.91	2
Missouri	32	$439.97	$394.43	2
Massachusetts	31	$289.72	$237.11	2
Virginia	31	$370.81	$257.74	1
District of Columbia	30	$198.19	$131.68	1
Delaware	29	$166.74	$136.52	1
Pennsylvania	29	$172.96	$131.88	1
Indiana	26	$155.75	$131.93	1
Maryland	19	$733.69	$595.37	1
Colorado	18	$450.14	$348.12	1
Connecticut	17	$859.26	$630.40	1
North Dakota	17	$156.76	$127.41	1
Washington	17	$429.31	$329.79	1

Related codes

28285Correction of toe joint deformity$553.86
28232Incision to lengthen toe tendon$235.84
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.