How much does Medicare pay for CPT 51710?

Medicare allowed an average of $128.10 per service and paid $98.04 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $377.24, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 51710?

Complicated change of bladder tube. It was billed 3,845 times to 1,165 Medicare beneficiaries by 73 providers in 2024.

Does 51710 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $136.64 in an office setting and $69.48 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 51710 most?

Urology, with 2,806 services from 48 clinicians. Next are Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Internal Medicine.

CPT 51710

Complicated change of bladder tube

$128.10Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 3,845 services

Providers submitted

$377.24

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$128.10

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$98.04

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $377.24 for this code and Medicare allowed $128.10 — 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 $98.04 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $136.64
Hospital / facility: $69.48

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. 3,356 services were billed in an office setting and 489 in a facility.

Services: 3,845
Beneficiaries: 1,165
Providers billing it: 73
Total allowed: $492,545

What Medicare pays for CPT 51710

Across 3,845 services billed by 73 providers to 1,165 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $128.10 per service. That is 3.3 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 51710

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Urology	2,806	791	$137.85	48
Nurse Practitioner	513	141	$93.49	9
Physician Assistant	428	168	$107.70	12
Internal Medicine	39	16	$82.32	1
Interventional Radiology	34	25	$143.81	2
Diagnostic Radiology	25	24	$142.95	1

51710 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
California	927	$145.80	$96.88	12
New Jersey	503	$137.51	$91.58	13
Florida	442	$137.10	$103.93	3
New York	369	$117.63	$80.34	7
Texas	274	$115.03	$92.67	3
Missouri	194	$119.27	$102.14	3
Arizona	149	$136.52	$97.36	2
Massachusetts	140	$96.65	$66.77	3
Connecticut	126	$142.80	$101.60	3
Nebraska	110	$122.72	$93.33	3
Virginia	102	$138.31	$101.50	5
Washington	84	$72.67	$49.13	2
Utah	77	$67.63	$51.84	1
Indiana	74	$105.77	$74.88	2
North Carolina	73	$105.12	$84.42	4
Michigan	51	$131.29	$102.35	1
Maryland	42	$73.29	$52.74	3
New Hampshire	41	$124.66	$85.44	1
Tennessee	39	$128.59	$104.30	1
Illinois	28	$120.40	$105.40	1

Related codes

51798Ultrasound measurement of bladder capacity after voiding$11.33
51741Electronic assessment of bladder emptying$10.90
51702Simple insertion of temporary bladder tube$56.08
51700Simple bladder irrigation and/or instillation$62.89
51784Non-needle measurement and recording of electrical activity of muscles$32.26
51701Insertion of temporary bladder tube$41.58
51797Insertion of device into abdomen$155.21
51720Instillation of anti-cancer drug into bladder$79.02
51728Complex measurement of pressure of urine flow in bladder$308.93
51705Simple change of bladder tube$86.83
51729Complex measurement of pressure of urine flow in bladder$338.91
51703Complicated insertion of bladder tube$133.52

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.