How much does Medicare pay for CPT 29515?

Medicare allowed an average of $62.72 per service and paid $48.13 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $181.71, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 29515?

Application of short leg splint from calf to foot. It was billed 6,136 times to 3,947 Medicare beneficiaries by 205 providers in 2024.

Does 29515 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $66.64 in an office setting and $29.68 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 29515 most?

Podiatry, with 4,130 services from 113 clinicians. Next are Orthopedic Surgery, Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner.

CPT 29515

Application of short leg splint from calf to foot

$62.72Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 6,136 services

Providers submitted

$181.71

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$62.72

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$48.13

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $181.71 for this code and Medicare allowed $62.72 — 2.9× 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 $48.13 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $66.64
Hospital / facility: $29.68

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. 5,486 services were billed in an office setting and 650 in a facility.

Services: 6,136
Beneficiaries: 3,947
Providers billing it: 205
Total allowed: $384,850

What Medicare pays for CPT 29515

Across 6,136 services billed by 205 providers to 3,947 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $62.72 per service. That is 1.6 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 29515

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Podiatry	4,130	2,300	$62.22	113
Orthopedic Surgery	1,164	932	$68.34	50
Physician Assistant	599	496	$57.89	29
Nurse Practitioner	110	88	$58.40	6
Emergency Medicine	72	72	$71.09	3
Ambulatory Surgical Center	27	27	$20.70	2
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	18	16	$24.71	1
Family Practice	16	16	$71.88	1

29515 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	1,622	$65.87	$49.94	24
California	811	$56.41	$41.74	25
Arizona	280	$54.07	$41.94	12
New Jersey	255	$75.93	$52.95	8
Michigan	244	$71.74	$57.35	4
New York	216	$80.24	$52.15	9
Oklahoma	216	$56.28	$47.15	5
Indiana	198	$65.72	$54.26	7
Tennessee	177	$55.25	$49.57	8
Illinois	176	$68.42	$49.67	9
Georgia	175	$57.05	$45.46	8
Ohio	168	$50.99	$42.01	9
Maryland	158	$68.55	$50.91	8
Pennsylvania	122	$66.79	$53.72	6
Texas	121	$60.65	$48.47	7
North Carolina	114	$62.61	$51.38	4
Nevada	97	$68.24	$55.50	3
Virginia	74	$41.37	$32.43	5
Minnesota	70	$55.96	$46.37	1
Mississippi	69	$49.80	$41.38	4
Washington	65	$66.21	$46.09	4
Utah	62	$34.49	$28.12	4
New Mexico	56	$67.94	$56.22	2
Kentucky	55	$49.08	$44.94	3
Louisiana	54	$65.10	$56.11	2
South Carolina	53	$63.13	$49.91	3
South Dakota	52	$62.20	$50.18	3
Massachusetts	49	$76.47	$56.46	2
New Hampshire	47	$62.05	$44.48	3
Alabama	46	$49.86	$42.55	3
Wisconsin	39	$64.39	$54.87	1
Connecticut	33	$77.54	$57.51	1
Nebraska	28	$51.82	$42.91	2
Maine	28	$68.74	$56.09	1
Colorado	28	$62.91	$48.97	1
North Dakota	24	$69.20	$47.02	1
Alaska	22	$73.03	$44.56	1
Rhode Island	18	$25.84	$19.51	1
Oregon	14	$70.14	$57.41	1

Related codes

29581Application of vein wound compression bandages on lower leg$84.27
29540Placement of strapping to ankle or foot$26.57
29580Strapping, unna boot$59.18
29550Placement of strapping to toes$15.55
29520Placement of strapping to hip$34.88
29530Placement of strapping to knee$29.09
29584Application of vein wound compression bandages on upper arm$71.17

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.