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Market snapshot

Nationwide CY2024

Medicare Part B FFS · CY2024 · as published by CMS
15851 Removal of sutures or staples under anesthesia CPT · Skin procedure
Classification Procedure Skin Wound Repair - All Levels (CMS RBCS)
First observed 2013 — start of our 12-year window; the code predates it
National scale 274 services · est. ▼ 13.2% YoY · 127 FFS beneficiaries (CY2024, all-Medicare estimate) — 138 observed fee-for-service services
CMS descriptor · RBCS classification · Medicare Part B physician/supplier claims, 12-year window
Data year CY2024 CY2023 CY2022 locked column CY2021 locked column CY2020 locked column
Market overview
Market Brief 15851
The whole of 15851, written up and sourced.

The Brief is a national document for 15851. Its findings page carries one finding per chapter, each opening the chapter that prints its figure and the table behind it — like these, from the United States, CY2024, the market on this page.

  1. 1Size and growth. The national market for 15851 ran ~274 all-Medicare services (estimated), 138 observed fee-for-service in CY2024. The market is down 13.3% year over year. 5 billing groups and 8 clinicians bill it.
  2. 2Payment. Half the field lists between $110 and $285 per service; the median group lists $133. Submitted charges are provider-set list amounts, not payments.
  3. 3Geography. CA, OH, TX and WY lead the state markets — together 69% of state-market volume.
Estimated all-Medicare volume estimate
FFS + estimated MA

~274 services

138 observed fee-for-service (50%) · ~136 estimated Medicare Advantage.

Scaled from the observed floor by each state’s fee-for-service share (FFS share as of 2024) — scaled estimate — assumes MA utilization mirrors FFS; not an observation. How we scale
Average charge
per service, submitted list amounts — not payments · named-group basis, observed FFS
Average payment
per service, Medicare paid amounts — not charges · all disclosed claims, observed FFS basis
Charge-to-payment ratio
average list price vs average Medicare payment per service · named-group basis
What they charge

Half the field lists between $110 and $285

Submitted charges are provider-set list amounts, not payments · median $133 (named groups)
Every group, one dot5 billing groups · median $133

Each dot is one billing group — 5 of them list this code

$0$200$400average submitted charge per service, per billing groupmedian $133
One dot per billing group, 15851 nationwide CY2024 — average submitted charge per service, provider-set list amounts, not payments. The axis caps near the 95th percentile so the cluster is legible; groups beyond it draw at the cap in accent and are counted on the chart.
Where the market isobserved FFS services by state · CY2024
MEVTNHWAIDMTNDMNWIIL: 17ILMINY: 13NYMARIORNVWY: 20WYSDIAINOH: 25OHPANJCTCA: 28CAUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSAL: 13ALGAHIAKTX: 22TXFL
Shaded low→high on observed fee-for-service services billed from each state · the /stats tile grid, at national scope. Shading ranks the states rather than spacing them along the range, so neighboring shades mean adjacent RANKS, not equal gaps — the key names the lowest and highest; each tile carries its own figure.
Which states movedservices per 1,000 FFS beneficiaries · CY2021 → CY2024
CY2021CY2024IL: 0 → 0CA: 0 → 0TX: 0 → 0CA 0TX 00 TX0 CA
One line per state market, 3 drawn; the 2 leading states by volume are in accent, the rest are context lines. Both columns share one scale, so a slope is real change. A RATE against each state’s own fee-for-service population — assumption-free, and no all-Medicare estimate is used or implied. CY2021 is the left period because CY2020 is the pandemic year and a slope off it would read as growth almost everywhere. 6 states with a rate in only one of the two years are not drawn. OH, WY lead on volume but have no rate at both endpoints, so they are not drawn here.

Open a state market: CA · OH · TX · WY · IL · NY · AL — the group ranking lives in the Provider groups tab. Territories bill too; the tile grid draws the 50 states and DC.

Every group in this market, placed by list charge against volume

This market’s groups, on one chart5 groups · bubble = services
One billing groupOne billing groupOne billing groupOne billing groupOne billing group$50$125$250$375$500+Average submitted charge per service — list amounts, not paymentsServices per group — 15851, CY2024
One mark per physician group, 15851 nationwide CY2024 — marks are unnamed here: a mark’s position is its average list charge, and that figure is part of the platform. Submitted charges are provider-set list amounts, not payments.

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