Physicians are the backbone of any healthcare system. As the primary caregivers, they identify patient ailments and determine courses of treatment that define each episode of care. In many cases, physicians also influence supply spending by requesting preferred medical devices and supplies. The following list contains the top 25 physician procedures billed to Medicare in 2017 by total volume nationwide — including total payments — based on Definitive Healthcare data.

Routine office visits (CPT codes 99213 & 99214) are the most common and heavily reimbursed of all physician procedures, numbering nearly 195 million with total Medicare payments of over $11.4 billion in 2017, according to Definitive Healthcare. Inpatient care visits (CPT codes 99232 & 99233) followed with a total of 68.8 million cases and nearly $4.4 billion in reimbursements.

Injections also constitute a large number of physician procedures. Of the top 50 billed procedures, injections represent over 30%. Many are drugs related to cancer treatment or chronic kidney disease. Most are relatively inexpensive procedures, with the physician billing only for the act of injecting the medication.