Which foot surgery codes appear most often in podiatry IDR disputes?

Hammertoe correction (28285) leads the surgical codes with 223 of the 1,628 disputes in the 2025 files, followed by a bunion repair with a distal metatarsal osteotomy (28296) with 99, a bunion repair with a double osteotomy (28299) with 64, and an osteotomy of a metatarsal other than the first (28308) with 51. Subsequent hospital care (99232), the most common visit code, appears in 61.

What do bunion repairs pay in federal IDR?

In the 2025 files, a bunion repair with a distal metatarsal osteotomy (28296) had a median QPA of $624.48 and a median decided award of $34,000.00 across 108 lines that report a QPA and offers, and a bunion repair with a double osteotomy (28299) had $378.87 and $35,250.00 across 73.

Do foot surgery codes win at the same rate?

No. In 2025 providers won 95.52 percent of hammertoe disputes (28285), 86.87 percent of bunion disputes with a distal osteotomy (28296), and 84.38 percent of those with a double osteotomy (28299). Among other codes, an open deep bone biopsy (20245) was won 60.87 percent of the time and Achilles tendon repair (27650) 78.95 percent.

Answers / What foot surgery codes pay

What foot surgery codes pay in federal IDR

Under the No Surprises Act, hammertoe correction (28285) was the most disputed foot surgery code in 2025, with 223 podiatry disputes, a 95.52 percent provider win rate, a median QPA of $300.66, and a median decided award of $24,000.00. Bunion repairs decided at $34,000.00 and $35,250.00 against QPAs of $624.48 and $378.87, and a metatarsal osteotomy at $24,000.00 against $319.78. All of these medians come from lines that report both a QPA and offers.

Hammertoe and bunion codes

Hammertoe correction (28285) appeared in 223 podiatry disputes in 2025 and providers won 95.52 percent, with a median QPA of $300.66 and a median decided award of $24,000.00 across 280 lines that report a QPA and offers. A bunion repair with a distal metatarsal osteotomy (28296) appeared in 99 disputes (86.87 percent won; $624.48 and $34,000.00 across 108 lines), and a bunion repair with a double osteotomy (28299) in 64 (84.38 percent; $378.87 and $35,250.00 across 73). Bunion repairs decided highest, against $24,000.00 for hammertoe correction. Correction of hallux rigidus with joint debridement (28289) appeared in 20 disputes (80.0 percent won; $364.19 and $15,938.00 across 15 lines), and a bunion repair with a phalanx osteotomy (28298) in 19 (94.74 percent won). The same code can appear on several lines of one dispute: 28285 appears on 272 lines across its 223 disputes.

Osteotomy, ankle, and tendon codes

An osteotomy of a metatarsal other than the first (28308) appeared in 51 disputes (90.2 percent won), with a median QPA of $319.78 and a median decided award of $24,000.00 across 51 lines. Further up the leg, ankle ligament repair (27698) appeared in 21 disputes (95.24 percent won) and Achilles tendon repair (27650) in 19 (78.95 percent), a lower win rate than the forefoot codes. Partial excision of a tarsal or metatarsal bone (28122) appeared in 19 disputes (94.74 percent won). An open deep bone biopsy (20245) appeared in 23 disputes, and providers won 60.87 percent, the lowest provider win rate among the codes in this article.

Wound care, implants, and hospital visits

Wound debridement appears at three depths: subcutaneous tissue (11042) in 31 disputes (96.77 percent won), muscle (11043) in 42 (88.1 percent), and bone (11044) in 27 (85.19 percent). Removal of a deep implant (20680) appeared in 41 disputes (90.24 percent won) and ankle arthroscopy with extensive debridement (29898) in 34 (97.06 percent). Hospital visits sit alongside the surgery: subsequent hospital care (99232) appeared in 61 disputes (95.08 percent won), its lower-level code (99231) in 28 (85.71 percent), and an emergency department visit (99284) in 35 (91.43 percent). Dollar medians are shown only for the foot surgery codes above, because wound care, implant removal, arthroscopy, and visit codes are billed by many specialties, and a median across all of them describes the whole country more than podiatry.

Reading the medians

These medians use only lines that report both a QPA and offers, which leaves out lines with no QPA and default decisions, where there are no offers. A code's medians also include every dispute that lists the code, whatever specialty filed it. Podiatry awards sit far above the QPAs: winning offers across podiatry disputes came in at a median 50.7 times the QPA in 2025, against 27.58 in 2024. Three filer domains brought 93.55 percent of the disputes and New York and New Jersey 86.12 percent, so these medians are mostly the claims of a handful of filers rather than a national average. Payer and state results for each code are on idrexplorer.com, and Lido IDR sets its offer for a code from them before filing for a flat fee per arbitration.

Price your foot surgery codes against the record

Lido IDR reads the decided results for your payers and states, sets an offer for each foot surgery code, and files for a flat fee per arbitration. Talk to an IDR specialist.