Ureteroscopy overtook shock-wave lithotripsy in Medicare in 2017
Nationally the new way is now 76% of the pair, and it leads in 45 of the 46 state markets — the rest still lean to shock-wave lithotripsy.
In Medicare's record, ureteroscopy — passing a scope up the urinary tract to break and remove a stone by laser — overtook shock-wave lithotripsy in 2017. By 2024, an estimated 138,000 ureteroscopy procedures were funded across Medicare against 44,000 shock-wave.
The two lines diverged after the crossing. Shock-wave lithotripsy ran an estimated 56,000 procedures in 2015; ureteroscopy rose from 43,000 and pulled steadily away once it passed in 2017.
The crossing is specific to the Medicare population. It marks when the two approaches crossed among fee-for-service beneficiaries, not across all payers, where the timing can differ.
On the raw fee-for-service record the gap is narrower. In 2024 it ran about 70,000 ureteroscopy to 22,000 shock-wave.
A volume record, not a verdict on which approach is better — stone size, location, and patient factors decide the choice, and this page compares no outcomes.
Estimated total-Medicare kidney-stone procedures by approach — ureteroscopy and shock-wave lithotripsy — 2015 to 2024.
Not billed claim lines, not facility or device unit counts, and not all-payer (the crossing year is specific to Medicare).