Healthcare Insights
What are the most common orthopedic surgeries?
What is orthopedic surgery?
Orthopedic surgery is a medical specialty dedicated to diagnosing, treating, and repairing conditions of the musculoskeletal system. This includes disease, disorders, or injury of bones, joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves.
Using the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset, we have ranked the top 10 most common orthopedic procedures. The data represents the CPT codes’ percentages of all orthopedic surgeries and orthopedic spine surgeries in 2023.
| Rank | CPT code | CPT description | % total orthopedic procedures | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20610 | Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection, major joint or bursa (eg, shoulder, hip, knee, subacromial bursa); without ultrasound guidance | 29.56% | Explore |
| 2 | 20611 | Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection, major joint or bursa (eg, shoulder, hip, knee, subacromial bursa); with ultrasound guidance, with permanent recording and reporting | 6.34% | Explore |
| 3 | 27447 | Arthroplasty, knee, condyle and plateau; medial AND lateral compartments with or without patella resurfacing (total knee arthroplasty) | 5.14% | Explore |
| 4 | 27130 | Arthroplasty, acetabular and proximal femoral prosthetic replacement (total hip arthroplasty), with or without autograft or allograft | 3.02% | Explore |
| 5 | 20600 | Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection, small joint or bursa (eg, fingers, toes); without ultrasound guidance | 2.72% | Explore |
| 6 | 20605 | Arthrocentesis, aspiration and/or injection, intermediate joint or bursa (eg, temporomandibular, acromioclavicular, wrist, elbow or ankle, olecranon bursa); without ultrasound guidance | 2.66% | Explore |
| 7 | 29827 | Arthroscopy, shoulder, surgical; with rotator cuff repair | 2.04% | Explore |
| 8 | 29881 | Arthroscopy, knee, surgical; with meniscectomy (medial OR lateral, including any meniscal shaving) including debridement/shaving of articular cartilage (chondroplasty), same or separate compartment(s), when performed | 1.94% | Explore |
| 9 | 26055 | Tendon sheath incision (eg, for trigger finger) | 1.94% | Explore |
| 10 | 29826 | Arthroscopy, shoulder, surgical; decompression of subacromial space with partial acromioplasty, with coracoacromial ligament (ie, arch) release, when performed (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure) | 1.93% | Explore |
Fig. 1. Data is from the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset and represents procedures from calendar year 2024. Data updated March 2025.
What is the most performed orthopedic surgery?
The most performed orthopedic surgical procedure is drainage or injection into a joint or bursa without ultrasound guidance (CPT code 20610), accounting for 21.8% of all orthopedic surgical procedures. This code is used for procedures in which a provider inserts a needle into a joint or bursa to either remove fluid from the joint or inject a therapeutic drug into the joint without the guidance of an ultrasound. This procedure is commonly used to treat joint pain and swelling resulting from conditions like arthritis, lupus, Lyme disease, and tendonitis, to name a few.
The second most common orthopedic surgical procedure is routine venipuncture (CPT code 36415). This code, which accounts for 5.5% of all orthopedic surgical procedures, is used for procedures in which a needle is inserted into a vein to collect a blood sample. This type of procedure is commonly performed before other surgeries as a means of identifying any underlying problems that may cause complications during surgery, likely a reason why it ranks so high on the list of most performed orthopedic surgical procedures.
The third top orthopedic surgical procedure, accounting for 4.9% of all orthopedic surgical procedures, is total knee arthroplasty (CPT code 27447). More commonly known as a knee replacement, this surgery involves replacing the surface of the joint with metal and plastic parts.
Where are orthopedic surgeries performed?
As many orthopedic surgeries are outpatient procedures, many of the procedures are performed in outpatient settings, like ambulatory surgery centers. Since 2018, there has been a 304% increase in knee replacement claims in ASC settings, according to the Definitive Healthcare Atlas All-Payor Claims dataset. These outpatient procedures, however, are sometimes still performed in hospital settings.
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