How much does Medicare pay for CPT 64708?

Medicare allowed an average of $313.51 per service and paid $250.43 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1105.91, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 64708?

Release of arm or leg nerve. It was billed 11,340 times to 6,979 Medicare beneficiaries by 154 providers in 2024.

Does 64708 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $318.37 in an office setting and $308.71 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 64708 most?

Ophthalmology, with 9,956 services from 101 clinicians. Next are Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Ambulatory Surgical Center.

CPT 64708

Release of arm or leg nerve

$313.51Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 11,340 services

Providers submitted

$1105.91

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$313.51

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$250.43

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1105.91 for this code and Medicare allowed $313.51 — 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 $250.43 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $318.37
Hospital / facility: $308.71

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. 5,634 services were billed in an office setting and 5,706 in a facility.

Services: 11,340
Beneficiaries: 6,979
Providers billing it: 154
Total allowed: $3,555,203

What Medicare pays for CPT 64708

Across 11,340 services billed by 154 providers to 6,979 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $313.51 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 64708

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Ophthalmology	9,956	6,000	$306.72	101
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	297	146	$338.36	8
Orthopedic Surgery	284	249	$283.73	14
Ambulatory Surgical Center	258	210	$584.21	11
Hand Surgery	230	177	$285.44	8
Podiatry	180	93	$372.55	5
Neurosurgery	73	61	$425.37	4
Physician Assistant	48	29	$50.83	2
General Surgery	14	14	$245.73	1

64708 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	1,860	$316.99	$247.59	16
Texas	1,220	$312.46	$246.07	20
California	856	$297.43	$218.18	12
New York	665	$264.90	$202.44	7
North Carolina	630	$333.30	$277.20	7
Oklahoma	579	$336.88	$293.79	5
Illinois	507	$309.73	$221.42	4
Washington	491	$291.01	$226.31	3
Virginia	474	$314.80	$237.12	8
Pennsylvania	412	$328.45	$246.88	9
New Mexico	318	$340.19	$289.42	3
Vermont	308	$238.27	$201.30	1
Oregon	305	$417.74	$329.35	3
Nebraska	258	$233.93	$205.29	3
Michigan	242	$289.73	$230.38	2
Utah	233	$412.47	$340.33	4
Kansas	208	$386.88	$336.67	1
Minnesota	190	$346.89	$281.58	3
Massachusetts	185	$358.50	$264.20	6
Idaho	162	$335.97	$304.33	2
Louisiana	151	$261.55	$224.60	5
Indiana	123	$264.79	$229.27	3
Maryland	120	$313.00	$219.74	2
Georgia	116	$240.62	$202.08	3
Connecticut	109	$316.77	$223.48	2
Ohio	103	$274.98	$205.46	2
South Carolina	84	$234.40	$203.06	1
South Dakota	83	$279.00	$226.41	2
Arizona	71	$405.19	$319.02	3
Wisconsin	65	$246.93	$221.78	2
New Jersey	52	$304.93	$241.52	2
Colorado	42	$272.00	$206.68	1
Mississippi	41	$232.18	$209.79	2
Nevada	27	$506.95	$377.95	1
District of Columbia	14	$321.47	$215.34	1
Missouri	14	$414.03	$330.69	1
West Virginia	11	$366.62	$292.72	1
Tennessee	11	$780.55	$669.94	1

Related codes

64721Release and/or relocation of hand nerve$553.77
64718Release and/or relocation of elbow nerve$559.85
64727Release of nerve$175.78
64772Incision or removal of spinal nerve$403.77
64722Release of unspecified nerve$209.77

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.