CPT 17110: Destruction of Benign Cutaneous Lesions, 1-14
CPT code 17110 denotes the destruction of one to 14 benign skin lesions by methods such as chemosurgery, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, or other destructive techniques. The code is commonly used in outpatient dermatology and primary care settings for removal of warts, molluscum, benign nevi, and other nonvascular benign lesions. Nationally, accurate use of this code matters for correct procedure documentation, payer adjudication, and consistent reporting of minor surgical services.
This analysis covers major national payers including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, United Healthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find an overview of clinical contexts appropriate for use of 17110, common diagnosis pairings, related CPT code distinctions (including the separate code for 15 or more lesions), and the service settings where the procedure is typically performed. The publication provides benchmarking and policy-oriented context to help organizations align coding practice with payer expectations and claims processing norms. It also outlines administrative considerations such as bundling and code selection when multiple lesion destructions are performed.
Intended for clinicians, coding professionals, and revenue cycle staff, this summary helps ensure consistent application of CPT code 17110 across outpatient treatment scenarios.
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Billing Code Overview
CPT code 17110 reports the destruction of benign skin lesions using techniques such as chemosurgery, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, or other destructive methods. This code applies when a provider destroys one to 14 benign lesions other than skin tags or cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions.
Service Type: Destruction of benign cutaneous lesions
Typical Site of Service: Outpatient clinic or office-based dermatology setting, including primary care or specialty clinic procedural rooms where minor skin procedures are performed.
National Reimbursement Benchmarks
Medicare's mean allowed rate for CPT 17110 sits at $115.70, modestly below the BUCA average commercial mean of $165.90. That gap of $50.20 highlights Medicare reimbursement as lower than the commercial BUCA benchmark, with Medicare's central tendency clustered (P25 $107, P50 $114, P75 $120) compared with BUCA's broader central measures (P25 $118.80, P50 $151.10, P75 $206.80).
Dispersion measured as P75 minus P25 is tightest for Medicare at $13 and narrow among Aetna ($74.40) and Cigna ($103.40) relative to larger spreads for Blue Cross Blue Shield ($81.10) and UnitedHealth Group ($97.80). Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealth Group sit among the wider distributions, while Medicare and Aetna reflect more compact central ranges.