CPT Code 17110: Destruction of benign skin lesions billing guide

Key takeaways

CPT Code 17110 covers destruction of 1 to 14 benign skin lesions by any method, including cryotherapy, laser, electrocautery, or chemical destruction.

The lesion count decides the code, so treating 15 or more moves the claim to CPT 17111.

CPT 17110 carries a 10-day global period, so routine follow-up inside those 10 days is not billed separately.

Skin tags and cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions fall outside 17110, so skin tag removal bills as CPT 11200 or 11201.

Practice management software like Pabau cuts 17110 denials by prompting for the lesion count before the note is signed.

CPT Code 17110: Definition and clinical description

CPT Code 17110 covers the destruction of 1 to 14 benign skin lesions in a single encounter, by any method. The count is what separates it from CPT 17111, and it is the element most often missing from the note. A chart that reads “multiple warts treated” leaves the coder guessing.

The official descriptor comes from the American Medical Association’s CPT code set.

Destruction (eg, laser surgery, electrosurgery, cryosurgery, chemosurgery, surgical curettement), of benign lesions other than skin tags or cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions; up to 14 lesions.

AMA CPT descriptor for 17110

The code sits within the 17000-17111 destruction family and applies to dermatology practice management workflows across office and outpatient settings.

Most 17110 denials come down to two rules, the 14-lesion ceiling and the 10-day global period that bundles routine follow-up. Both are documentation problems before they are billing problems.

What procedures does CPT Code 17110 cover?

The code is method-agnostic. Any technique that physically destroys the lesion qualifies, provided the lesion type is benign and the count stays at 14 or fewer. Destruction means the tissue is eliminated, not merely reduced or treated topically.

Explicitly excluded: skin tags (use CPT 11200 or 11201) and cutaneous vascular proliferative lesions. If skin tags are treated in the same session as warts, each procedure family requires its own code. Mixing them under 17110 is a coding error.

Qualifying lesion types and ICD-10 diagnosis codes for CPT 17110

Medical necessity for CPT Code 17110 has to be supported by a covered ICD-10-CM diagnosis. The codes below are the ones that carry these claims most often. Payers maintain their own Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs), so verify against your MAC’s current LCD before billing.

Actinic keratosis sits at a coding crossroads. The lesion is premalignant, so 17000 and 17003 usually fit better than 17110. Document the clinical finding clearly, so the diagnosis supports whichever family you bill from.

Unspecified codes invite scrutiny as well. B07.9 is legitimate when the note does not name the wart type, but it gives a reviewer less to work with on medical necessity.

CPT Code 17110 vs CPT 17111: key differences

The 14-lesion threshold is the most important rule in this code family. It also causes the most denials, because lesion counts slip when the session runs long.

CPT 17110 and CPT 17111 cannot be billed on the same date of service. NCCI edits bundle them. If a session involves 18 lesions destroyed, bill only 17111. Billing both codes at once creates a duplicate claim and triggers an edit.

Related CPT codes in the skin lesion destruction family

Knowing where 17110 sits in the wider family prevents wrong-code submissions. The table below covers the codes most likely to appear in the same billing context. Malignant lesion destruction leaves this family altogether and bills from 17260 through 17286, such as 17271.

Two variables settle the choice, in order. The chart below runs the type first, then the count, which is the sequence that keeps 17110 and 17000 from being swapped.

Medicare reimbursement rates for CPT Code 17110 (2026)

Medicare reimbursement for CPT Code 17110 varies by setting and geographic locality. The 2026 non-facility national average is approximately $105 to $115. That lands near $111, from a total RVU of 3.33 and the 2026 conversion factor of $33.4009.

Facility rates (hospital outpatient, ambulatory surgical center) are lower, because the facility is paid its overhead separately. Check the CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Look-Up Tool for your MAC locality before quoting rates to patients or building revenue projections.

CPT 17110 carries a 10-day global period. Routine post-procedure follow-up inside those 10 days is bundled into the payment for the destruction, so it is not billed separately. An unrelated problem addressed in that window can still be billed when the note supports it. RVU components change annually, so pull current figures for your locality before you build projections.

Modifiers applicable to CPT Code 17110

Modifiers tell payers when a standard code is being billed under non-standard circumstances. For CPT Code 17110, three modifiers appear regularly in dermatology and primary care billing.

Modifier -25 is the most frequently misused modifier in this context. Appending it without a separately documented E/M service creates an audit flag. The visit note must show that the clinician evaluated a condition beyond the lesions being treated that same day.

Documentation requirements for CPT Code 17110

Most 17110 claims that fail an audit fail on documentation rather than code selection. Payers reviewing these claims look for a specific set of elements. Building those fields into your digital intake forms and note templates prevents omissions at the point of care. Every note supporting a 17110 claim should document the following:

• Exact lesion count: Document the number of lesions destroyed in this encounter (e.g. “7 verrucae treated”). This single element determines 17110 vs 17111.
• Lesion type: Specify the clinical diagnosis (e.g. verruca vulgaris, molluscum contagiosum, seborrheic keratosis). The diagnosis must align with the ICD-10 code on the claim.
• Anatomical location: Document the body site(s) where lesions were located. Payers may require this for bilateral modifier validation or site-specific coverage policies.
• Destruction method: State which technique was used (e.g. “cryotherapy with liquid nitrogen applied for 10 seconds per lesion”).
• Medical necessity statement: For Medicare and most commercial payers, document why treatment was medically necessary (e.g. patient pain, secondary infection risk, functional impairment).
• Size (when required): Some payers request lesion diameter even for destruction codes. Check your MAC’s LCD for whether size documentation is required.

A note that reads only “warts treated” will not survive a payer audit. The coder then has to guess the count, the method, and the necessity, which is how a clean claim turns into a rework queue.

Common billing errors and denial reasons for CPT Code 17110

Most 17110 denials are preventable. They cluster around five error types that recur across dermatology and primary care practices. Sound denial management workflows flag them before submission rather than after the payer returns the claim. The denial codes on the remittance name which one you hit.

• Missing lesion count in documentation: The chart says “multiple warts removed” without specifying the count. The coder bills 17110, but if the count was 15 or more, the wrong code went out. A payer that audits and finds no count may deny the claim outright.
• Using 17110 when 17111 applies: Fifteen or more lesions destroyed must be billed as 17111. Billing 17110 for a session involving 20 lesions is under-coding, and it leaves a compliance problem if the documentation shows the count.
• Billing skin tags under 17110: Skin tags (acrochordons) are explicitly excluded. Practices that remove skin tags alongside warts must separate the codes: 17110 for the wart destruction, 11200 for the skin tags.
• Modifier -25 applied without a separate E/M: Billing an E/M with modifier -25 alongside 17110 requires a separately identifiable, documented evaluation. If the note only documents the lesions treated, the modifier is unsupportable.
• Diagnosis-procedure mismatch: Pairing 17110 with an ICD-10 code outside its covered diagnoses, such as a malignant skin lesion code, causes a medical necessity denial. Premalignant lesions belong to the 17000 family.

Coverage criteria and medical necessity guidelines

Coverage for CPT Code 17110 is not automatic. Payers separate medically necessary destruction from cosmetic removal, and the chart has to support the first. Document that distinction at the time of service, not retrospectively.

Conditions typically covered by Medicare and commercial payers:

• Warts (verruca vulgaris, plantar warts) causing pain, functional impairment, or spreading risk
• Molluscum contagiosum in immunocompromised patients or when spreading to affect function
• Seborrheic keratoses when inflamed, repeatedly traumatized, or causing documented symptoms
• Conditions where the lesion creates clinical risk (infection, bleeding, obstruction)

Conditions typically denied as cosmetic:

• Seborrheic keratoses removed purely for aesthetic reasons, with no documented symptoms
• Warts in asymptomatic patients without documented functional impact or spread risk
• Any lesion where the chart note indicates the patient’s primary reason for treatment is appearance

Prior authorization requirements vary by payer and by MAC region. Some Medicare Administrative Contractors carry specific LCD provisions for benign lesion destruction. Review the applicable LCD before treating, particularly for Medicare Advantage patients, whose criteria can run tighter than traditional Medicare. The AAPC CPT code lookup carries payer-specific notes that supplement an LCD review.

How practice management software streamlines CPT Code 17110 billing

The documentation errors that drive 17110 denials are systemic. Providers writing into free-text fields with no structured prompts leave the lesion count out. Coders working from an incomplete note then assign a code without the clinical detail to support it.

Practice management software like Pabau fixes that by building the required fields into the clinical workflow. Pabau’s claims management software connects note completion to claim submission. The count, diagnosis, method, and necessity are on the record before the claim is queued.

From there, the claim leaves the practice electronically through a medical claims clearinghouse. The Claim.MD integration is the submission and status-tracking pathway for US payers. You can see which 17110 claims paid, which are pending, and which came back.

Practices running high volumes of benign destruction carry the same documentation burden wherever they sit. Molluscum in pediatric primary care, plantar warts in podiatry, and seborrheic keratoses in a skin practice all bill the same code. Getting the note right at the point of care keeps revenue cycle management moving without manual corrections at each step.

Stop losing revenue to preventable 17110 denials

Pabau prompts for the lesion count, diagnosis, and method inside the note, then submits the claim electronically and tracks its status. See how it fits your billing workflow.

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Conclusion

CPT Code 17110 is high-volume work in dermatology and primary care, and its denials are boringly consistent. Three patterns account for most of them: no lesion count in the note, the wrong code past 14 lesions, and skin tags folded in. Fix those habits at the point of care and the billing queue stops absorbing the cost.

The 10-day global period is the one to watch after the fact. Follow-up visits inside that window are already paid for, so billing them separately invites a takeback later.

Pabau structures the note so 17110 claims leave the practice with the count, diagnosis, method, and necessity already recorded. Book a demo to see how that fits your billing workflow.

Continue your research

Destroying a malignant lesion instead? 17276 covers malignant lesion destruction, where the site and size of the lesion drive the code instead of the count.

Sending the specimen to pathology? 11404 shows how an excision is sized and coded, which is the fork 17110 sits on.

Working below the fascia rather than on the skin? 21014 covers soft tissue tumor excision of the face and scalp.

Treating with liquid nitrogen? The cryotherapy aftercare template gives patients written instructions for the method most 17110 claims are billed for.

Frequently asked questions