CPT 28001 Bursal Drainage Reimbursement & Benchmarks | OpenPayer

Summary & Overview

CPT 28001: Drainage of Infected Bursa of Foot

CPT code 28001 designates drainage of an infected bursa in the foot, a focused minor operative procedure used to remove purulent or inflammatory fluid from a bursal sac located between tendon, muscle, and bone. This procedure is clinically important because timely drainage can relieve pain, reduce local infection, and help guide targeted antimicrobial therapy. Nationally, such procedures factor into outpatient surgical volumes and influence coding, billing, and clinical pathways for foot and ankle infections.

Key payers covered in this analysis include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna Health, UnitedHealthcare, and Medicare. Readers will find a concise overview of clinical context for the procedure, expected sites of service, common billing modifiers listed in input, and the typical administrative considerations for outpatient drainage of foot bursae. The publication also outlines benchmarking points and policy-relevant issues where data is available; where input data is missing, the text notes that specific items are not available in the input.

This summary provides clinicians, billing professionals, and policy analysts with a clear statement of what CPT code 28001 represents, why it matters for outpatient surgical care, and what topics to expect in the full publication, including coding guidance, payer coverage considerations, and clinical context.

AetnaBlue Cross Blue ShieldCigna HealthUnitedHealthcareMedicareCPT 28001bursa drainagefoot procedureminor surgeryoutpatient surgeryinfectious diseaseprocedure codingambulatory care

Billing Code Overview

CPT code 28001 describes a procedure to drain fluid from an infected bursa of the foot. A bursa is a fluid-filled sac that lies between muscle, tendon, and bone; this procedure involves aspiration or incision and drainage of the bursal fluid to relieve infection or pressure.

Service type: Minor operative procedure for soft tissue infection management
Typical site of service: Outpatient clinic, ambulatory surgery center, or hospital outpatient department where minor foot procedures are performed

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A typical patient is a 45-year-old with focal swelling, erythema, and focal tenderness over the lateral aspect of the foot near the fifth metatarsal after repetitive friction from footwear. The patient reports increasing pain, warmth, and limited ability to wear shoes over several days. Physical exam demonstrates a fluctuant, localized fluid collection consistent with an inflamed or infected bursa. Vital signs may be normal or show low-grade fever. The clinician reviews medical history, allergies, and anticoagulation status, obtains focused history for systemic infection, and documents informed consent for aspiration and drainage of the bursal sac.

The clinical workflow includes antiseptic preparation of the foot in a procedure room or outpatient clinic, local anesthesia (e.g., lidocaine infiltration), and needle aspiration or small incision drainage of the bursa to evacuate purulent or serous fluid. Fluid is sent for gram stain, culture and sensitivity when infection is suspected. Procedural documentation captures indication, site, laterality, technique, anesthesia, estimated fluid volume, complications, and post-procedure instructions. Follow-up includes wound care, possible oral or IV antibiotics based on culture results, and re-evaluation for recurrent fluid collection or need for surgical bursectomy if conservative measures fail.

Coding Specifications

Modifier	Description	When to Use
`25`	Data not available in the input.	Data not available in the input.

CPT 28008: Plantar Fascia Release and Toe Contracture Release

CPT-28003-FOOT-BURSAL-DRAINAGE-MULTIPLE-SPACES

CPT 28003: Drainage of Multiple Infected Bursal Spaces Under Foot Fascia

CPT-28005-FOOT-BONE-CORTEX-INCISION-FOR-INFECTION

CPT 28005: Incision of Foot Bone Cortex for Infection

CPT-28002-BURSAL-INCISION-DRAINAGE-TENDON-COVERING

CPT 28002: Incision and Drainage of Infected Bursa Involving Tendon Covering

CPT-28024-TOE-JOINT-INCISION-DRAINAGE

CPT 28024: Incision and Drainage of Toe Joint

CPT-28035-TARSAL-TUNNEL-RELEASE-POSTERIOR-TIBIAL-NERVE-DECOMPRESSION

CPT 28035: Tarsal Tunnel Release, Posterior Tibial Nerve Decompression

CPT-28022-TOE-FOREFOOT-JOINT-INCISION-DRAINAGE

CPT 28022: Incision and Drainage of Toe/Forefoot Joint

CPT-28011-PERCUTANEOUS-TENOTOMY-MULTIPLE-TOES-HAMMER-TOE

CPT 28011: Percutaneous Tenotomy of Multiple Tendons for Hammer Toe

CPT-28010-PERCUTANEOUS-TENOTOMY-TOE-HAMMER-TOE-CORRECTION

CPT 28010: Percutaneous Tenotomy for Toe Deformity

CPT-28020-FOOT-ANKLE-JOINT-INCISION-DRAINAGE

CPT 28020: Incision and Drainage of Foot or Ankle Joint

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
Data not available in the input.	Podiatry	Providers who commonly perform foot bursa drainage include podiatrists.
Data not available in the input.	Orthopedic Surgery	Orthopedic foot and ankle surgeons perform drainage when surgical management may be needed.
Data not available in the input.	Family Medicine	Primary care and urgent care clinicians may perform bedside drainage in outpatient settings.
Data not available in the input.	Emergency Medicine	Emergency physicians often perform incision and drainage for infected bursae in the emergency department.
Data not available in the input.	Plastic Surgery	In select cases involving complex soft-tissue infection or reconstruction, plastic surgeons may be involved.

Related Diagnoses

ICD-10 Code	Description	Clinical Relevance
`M71.5`	Bursitis, unspecified	Common diagnosis for inflamed bursa requiring aspiration or drainage.
`M76.60`	Prepatellar bursitis, unspecified knee	Example bursitis code; included to show typical bursitis codes though not foot-specific.
`L03.115`	Cellulitis of right toe and nail	Soft-tissue infection adjacent to a bursa may prompt drainage and antibiotic therapy.
`L03.116`	Cellulitis of left toe and nail	As above for opposite side.
`M65.9`	Synovitis and tenosynovitis, unspecified	Adjacent tendon sheath inflammation can be associated with bursal fluid collections.
`B95.6`	Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] as the cause of diseases classified elsewhere	Used as a secondary code when MRSA is identified from bursal fluid culture and guides antibiotic selection.
`T81.4XXA`	Infection following a procedure, initial encounter	Applied if infection is related to a prior invasive procedure and requires drainage.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`20526`	Needle aspiration of ganglion, or cyst; bursa (e.g., olecranon, prepatellar)	Directly related: alternative or identical technique for bursal aspiration when billed for a bursa in the foot.
`10060`	Incision and drainage of abscess; simple or single	Performed when a larger incision is required to drain purulent bursal infection rather than needle aspiration.
`10140`	Incision and drainage of hematoma, seroma or fluid collection (eg, pilonidal, epidermal inclusion cyst)	Related: used for incision and drainage of superficial fluid collections when coding terminology fits the clinical procedure.
`87070`	Culture, bacterial; any other source except urine, blood or stool, aerobic, with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates	Ancillary service: commonly billed for microbiology testing of aspirated bursal fluid.
`87880`	Infectious agent antigen detection by immunoassay technique, single step method; streptococcal group A	Example laboratory code: specific rapid testing if indicated by clinical suspicion (use applicable lab codes as ordered).

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