Healthcare Insights
Top radiation oncology procedure codes
Physicians have used ionizing radiation to treat cancer since 1896—only a year after Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays.
What is radiation oncology?
The radiation therapies used in radiation oncology aim to damage cancer cells’ DNA, slowing or preventing tumors from growing and, in some cases, eliminating tumors entirely.
As the medical use of radiation has become safer and more precise, patients have access to a growing variety of palliative and curative radiation oncology procedures. Unfortunately, this heightened demand has also created a deficit of physicians within the field of radiation oncology.
Using data from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset, the chart below shows the most commonly performed radiation oncology procedures in 2023, listed by their Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code.
| Rank | HCPCS/CPT code | HCPCS/CPT description | % of 2023 procedures analyzed | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77386 | Intensity modulated radiation treatment delivery (IMRT), includes guidance and tracking; complex | 11.40% | Explore |
| 2 | 77427 | Radiation treatment management, 5 treatments | 10.70% | Explore |
| 3 | 77336 | Continuing medical physics consultation, including assessment of treatment parameters, quality assurance of dose delivery, and review of patient treatment documentation in support of radiation oncologist, reported per week of therapy | 10.10% | Explore |
| 4 | 77412 | Radiation treatment delivery, >=1 MEV; complex | 10.00% | Explore |
| 5 | 77385 | Intensity modulated radiation treatment delivery (IMRT), includes guidance and tracking; simple | 7.10% | Explore |
| 6 | 77334 | Treatment devices, design and construction; complex (irregular blocks, special shields, compensators, wedges, molds or casts) | 6.80% | Explore |
| 7 | 77387 | Guidance for localization of target volume for delivery of radiation treatment, includes intrafraction tracking | 6.70% | Explore |
| 8 | 77300 | Basic radiation dosimetry calculation | 6.20% | Explore |
| 9 | 77280 | Therapeutic radiology simulation-aided field setting; simple | 3.50% | Explore |
| 10 | 77338 | Multi-leaf collimator (MLC) device(s) for intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), design and construction per IMRT plan | 3.40% | Explore |
Fig 1. Data from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset for calendar year 2023. Medical claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and is updated monthly. Accessed March 2024.
What are the most common radiation oncology CPT codes?
CPT code 77386—intensity modulated radiation treatment (IMRT) delivery—was the most performed radiation oncology procedure in 2023, representing 11.4% of procedures analyzed.
The second most common radiation therapy CPT code was 77427—radiation treatment management, five treatments, with 10.7% of radiation oncology procedures. This procedure code is reported once for every five treatment sessions a patient receives. Typically, these sessions include a medical examination, a review of therapy dosage, and reviews of lab and imaging results.
CPT codes 77336 (continuing medical physics consultation) and 77412 (radiation treatment delivery greater than or equal to one MeV of energy each) made up about 10% of radiation oncology procedures for 2023.
Learn more
Want deeper insights into radiation oncology procedures, other radiotherapy treatments, and the oncologists prescribing them? Looking for top experts and key opinion leaders (KOLs) within the field? The Definitive Healthcare platform offers data, analytics, and expertise on more than 9,100 hospitals and IDNs in the U.S., with claims data updated monthly.
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