CPT 27500 Femoral Shaft Reduction Reimbursement | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 27500: Femoral Shaft Fracture Reduction

CPT code 27500 represents surgical reduction of a femoral shaft fracture performed to restore proper alignment and allow repair and healing. This procedure is clinically significant because femoral shaft fractures are high-resource orthopedic injuries that often require operative intervention and can drive inpatient surgical volume, anesthesia services, and postoperative rehabilitation needs. Nationally, accurate coding of this service affects surgical quality reporting, facility and professional reimbursement, and utilization monitoring.

Key payers commonly involved in coverage and claims for CPT code 27500 include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a clinical and billing-focused overview of the procedure, common places of service, and typical coding considerations. The publication also outlines benchmarking context and policy implications relevant to hospitals, surgical centers, and orthopedic providers. Where input data is incomplete, the content notes: "Data not available in the input."

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicareCPT 27500femoral shaft fractureorthopedic surgeryfracture reductionsurgical procedurehospital servicesoperating roomanesthesiaprocedure coding

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 27500 describes a surgical procedure to reduce a fracture of the femoral shaft into correct position without manipulation, facilitating repair and healing. This is an open or closed reduction procedure for femoral shaft fracture focused on alignment and stabilization of the femur.

Service type: Fracture reduction and stabilization surgery
Typical site of service: Hospital inpatient or outpatient surgical setting, including operating room or same-day surgical center

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A typical patient is an adult who presents to the emergency department after a high-energy mechanism such as a motor vehicle collision or fall from height with acute pain, deformity, and inability to bear weight on the affected lower extremity. Radiographs or CT confirm a displaced femoral shaft fracture. The orthopedic trauma team evaluates the patient, performs preoperative clearance, and schedules urgent operative fixation. In the operating room under general or regional anesthesia, the surgeon performs a closed reduction of the femoral shaft fracture to realign bone fragments without an open surgical approach, followed by internal fixation (intramedullary nail or rod) during the same operative episode. Perioperative workflow includes anesthesia evaluation, informed consent, neurovascular assessment, intraoperative imaging with fluoroscopy to confirm reduction, and postoperative orders for pain control, venous thromboembolism prophylaxis, and weight-bearing instructions. Typical sites of service are the hospital operating room or ambulatory surgical center when appropriate, with inpatient postoperative admission common for pain control and monitoring in acute trauma cases.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`22`	Increased procedural services	Use when work or time substantially exceeds the usual for `27500` due to complexity or extensive additional work.

CPT 27540: ORIF of Intercondylar Spine or Tuberosity of Knee

CPT-27508-CLOSED-REDUCTION-DISTAL-FEMUR-CONDYLAR-FRACTURE

CPT 27508: Closed Reduction of Distal Femur Condylar Fracture

CPT-27538-CLOSED-REDUCTION-INTERCONDYLAR-SPINE-KNEE-FRACTURE

CPT 27538: Closed Reduction of Intercondylar Spine or Tuberosity Knee Fracture

CPT-27510-CLOSED-REDUCTION-DISTAL-FEMUR-CONDYLAR-FRACTURE

CPT 27510: Closed Reduction of Distal Femur Condylar Fracture

CPT-27557-OPEN-REDUCTION-INTERNAL-FIXATION-KNEE-LIGAMENT-REPAIR

CPT 27557: Open Reduction, Internal Fixation of Dislocated Knee with Ligament Repair

CPT-27556-OPEN-REDUCTION-INTERNAL-FIXATION-DISLOCATED-KNEE

CPT 27556: Open Reduction and Internal Fixation of Dislocated Knee

CPT-27558-OPEN-REDUCTION-INTERNAL-FIXATION-KNEE-LIGAMENT-REPAIR

CPT 27558: ORIF of Dislocated Knee with Ligament Repair

27507-OPEN-TREATMENT-OF-FEMORAL-SHAFT-FRACTURE-WITH-PLATESCREWS

CPT 27507: Open Fixation of Femoral Shaft Fracture with Plate and Screws

CPT-27524-PATELLAR-FRACTURE-ORIF-PATELLECTOMY-SOFT-TISSUE-REPAIR

CPT 27524: Open Reduction Internal Fixation of Patellar Fracture with Patellectomy and Soft Tissue Repair

CPT-27517-CLOSED-REDUCTION-DISTAL-FEMORAL-EPIPHYSEAL-SEPARATION

CPT 27517: Closed Reduction, Distal Femoral Epiphyseal Separation

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Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
208D00000X	Orthopaedic Surgery	Primary specialty performing femoral shaft fracture reductions and fixation.
207R00000X	Emergency Medicine	Initial evaluation and stabilization prior to operative management.
208800000X	General Surgery	May be involved in trauma centers for operative fracture management when orthopedics not available.
221H00000X	Anesthesiology	Provides general or regional anesthesia for operative reduction and fixation.
261QM0800X	Physical Therapy	Provides inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation following operative fixation.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`S72.301A`	Unspecified fracture of shaft of right femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	A common primary diagnosis indicating a closed femoral shaft fracture appropriate for closed reduction such as `27500`.
`S72.302A`	Unspecified fracture of shaft of left femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Left-sided counterpart for a closed femoral shaft fracture treated with closed reduction.
`S72.321A`	Displaced fracture of shaft of right femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Specifies a displaced shaft fracture where closed reduction and fixation are often required.
`S72.322A`	Displaced fracture of shaft of left femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Left-sided displaced shaft fracture commonly managed with closed reduction and fixation.
`S72.331A`	Comminuted fracture of shaft of right femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Comminuted fractures may be more complex but can still undergo closed reduction and intramedullary fixation.
`S72.332A`	Comminuted fracture of shaft of left femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Left-sided comminuted shaft fracture relevant to `27500` when closed methods suffice.
`S72.391A`	Other fracture of shaft of right femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Additional fracture types of the femoral shaft that are treated with closed reduction during initial encounter.
`S72.392A`	Other fracture of shaft of left femur, initial encounter for closed fracture	Left-sided variant for other femoral shaft fracture patterns managed with closed reduction.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`27447`	Open treatment of femoral fracture, proximal or distal, with internal fixation, with or without bone graft	Used when an open approach is required instead of closed reduction; may be an alternative or subsequent procedure if closed reduction fails.
`27506`	Open treatment of femoral shaft fracture, with or without internal fixation, with or without external fixation; proximal two-thirds	Represents open fixation of the femoral shaft when `27500` (closed reduction) is not adequate.
`20680`	Removal of implant; deep (e.g., buried wire, pin, screw, metal band, nail, rod or plate)	Performed later in the clinical course when removal of intramedullary nail or hardware placed after closed reduction is indicated.
`77002`	Fluoroscopic guidance for needle placement (not a perfect match but represents intraoperative fluoroscopy)	Intraoperative fluoroscopy is commonly used to confirm closed reduction and guide implant placement during `27500`.
`99024`	Postoperative follow-up visit, typically global period visit	Represents postoperative evaluation and management in the global period after surgical fixation associated with the closed reduction procedure.

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