Healthcare Insights
Top 20 physical therapy procedure codes
Physical therapy activities are important for patients to develop strength, improve functional performance and work on neuromuscular reeducation. These services are needed after surgery, accidents and other clinical events.
What are the most common physical therapy procedures?
Reviewing physical therapy Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product, the table below lists the physical therapy procedure codes with the highest number of claims in 2021.
| Rank | CPT code | CPT code description | Number of procedures | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97110 | Therapeutic procedure, 1 or more areas, each 15 minutes; Therapeutic exercises to develop strength and endurance, range of motion and flexibility | 89,429,991 | Explore |
| 2 | 97140 | Manual therapy techniques (mobilization/manipulation, manual lymphatic drainage, manual traction), 1 or more regions, each 15 minutes | 53,111,460 | Explore |
| 3 | 97530 | Therapeutic activities, direct (one-on-one) patient contact (use of dynamic activities to improve functional performance), each 15 minutes | 50,499,116 | Explore |
| 4 | 97112 | Therapeutic procedure 1 or more areas, each 15 minutes; neuromuscular reeducation of movement, balance, coordination, kinesthetic sense, posture and/or proprioception for sitting and/or standing activities | 38,788,635 | Explore |
| 5 | 97014 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; electrical stimulation (unattended) | 8,081,365 | Explore |
| 6 | 97010 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; hot or cold packs | 7,768,096 | Explore |
| 7 | 97116 | Therapeutic procedure 1 or more areas, each 15 minutes; gait training (includes stair climbing) | 7,251,045 | Explore |
| 8 | 97535 | Self-care/Home management training (Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and compensatory training, meal preparation, safety procedures and instructions in use of assistive technology devices/adaptive equipment), direct (one-on-one) patient contact, each 15 minutes | 7,006,118 | Explore |
| 9 | 97161 | Physical therapy evaluation: low complexity, 20 minutes face-to-face | 5,266,578 | Explore |
| 10 | 97012 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; traction, mechanical | 4,062,395 | Explore |
| 11 | 97162 | Physical therapy evaluation: moderate complexity, 30 minutes face-to-face | 3,863,888 | Explore |
| 12 | 97035 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; ultrasound, each 15 minutes | 3,312,418 | Explore |
| 13 | 97150 | Therapeutic procedure(s), group (2 or more individuals) | 2,445,876 | Explore |
| 14 | 97016 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; vasopneumatic devices | 2,179,115 | Explore |
| 15 | 97032 | Application of a modality to 1 or more areas; electrical stimulation (manual), each 15 minutes | 1,487,512 | Explore |
| 16 | 97164 | Re-evaluation of physical therapy established plan of care | 1,441,843 | Explore |
| 17 | 97113 | Therapeutic procedure 1 or more areas, each 15 minutes; aquatic therapy with therapeutic exercises | 1,051,570 | Explore |
| 18 | 97163 | Physical therapy evaluation: high complexity, 45 minutes face-to-face | 925,685 | Explore |
| 19 | 97165 | Occupational therapy evaluation: low complexity, 30 minutes face-to-face | 912,420 | Explore |
| 20 | 97597 | Debridement (high pressure waterjet w/wo suction, sharp selective debridement w/ scissors, scalpel and forceps), open wound (fibrin, devitalized epidermis and/or dermis, exudate, debris, biofilm) including topical application(s), wound assessment, for ongoing care | 856,050 | Explore |
Fig. 1 - Data is from the Definitive Healthcare ClaimsMx product for calendar year 2021. Claims data is sourced from multiple medical claims clearinghouses in the United States and is updated monthly. Data is accurate as of March 2022.
The top physical therapy CPT codes cover therapeutic exercises, techniques, applications and evaluations. With over 89 million claims, CPT code 97110 therapeutic exercises to develop strength and endurance, range of motion and flexibility had the most physical therapy procedures in 2021. Manual therapy techniques for mobilization/manipulation, manual lymphatic drainage, manual traction (97140) had more than 53 million procedures, and therapeutic activities to improve functional performance (97530) saw over 50 million claims.
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