CPT 17004: Destruction of 15 or More Premalignant Lesions
Headline: CPT code 17004: Destruction of 15+ Premalignant Lesions, Common Dermatologic Procedure
Lead: CPT code 17004 covers the destruction of 15 or more premalignant lesions using techniques such as chemosurgery, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, or similar methods. This procedural dermatology code is commonly used in outpatient clinic settings and is relevant to clinicians and billing teams across the country managing actinic keratoses and other premalignant skin conditions.
What the code represents and why it matters: CPT code 17004 designates a high-volume lesion destruction encounter — specifically the treatment of 15 or more premalignant lesions. Nationally, this code matters because it documents the scope of procedural dermatologic care delivered in a single session and impacts billing, coding workflows, and aggregated utilization metrics for skin care services.
Key payers covered: The analysis covers major commercial and public payers, including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, United Healthcare, and Medicare.
What readers will learn: The publication provides clinical context for the procedure, explains typical sites of service, and situates CPT code 17004 within related code anatomy (first lesion and add-on lesion codes). Readers will find benchmarks, policy-relevant observations, and billing considerations relevant to high-volume premalignant lesion destruction encounters.
Customize your policy alerts
Sign up for cpt 17004 policy alerts
Get alerted when payer policies referencing 17004 are released or updated.
Monitor payer policy activity
Billing Code Overview
CPT code 17004 describes the destruction of 15 or more premalignant lesions using techniques such as chemosurgery, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, or other destructive methods. The service type is procedural dermatologic lesion destruction. The typical site of service is an ambulatory clinic or outpatient dermatology setting, where procedural lesion destruction is performed under local anesthesia or topical measures.
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Medicare’s mean allowed rate is $168.4, which sits well below BUCA’s average commercial mean of $365.9; this gap of $197.5 highlights a substantial difference between public program pricing and the average commercial benchmark. Blue Cross Blue Shield’s mean ($498.8) and UnitedHealth Group’s mean ($232.4) are closer to BUCA on the high and mid ends respectively, while Aetna and Cigna fall below BUCA’s mean, illustrating a multi-modal commercial market with Medicare positioned distinctly lower.
Dispersion measured by the interquartile spread (P75–P25) is tightest for Medicare at $18 (174–156) and for Aetna at $105 (155–50), indicating relatively concentrated ranges at the low and lower-mid extremes. The widest spreads appear for Blue Cross Blue Shield at $179 (611.5–413.2) and BUCA at $169 (452.9–284.3), with UnitedHealth Group and Cigna showing intermediate dispersion of $139 (288–148.9) and $140 (281.7–138.1) respectively, suggesting greater variability among higher commercial reimbursements.