88312

Special stained specimen slides to identify organisms including interpretation and report

Code 88312. Medicare covered 1,436,390 of these. Here is what providers billed and what Medicare allowed, state by state.

$183.05Billed, national avg
$74.42Medicare allowed
2.5xBilled vs allowed
4.6xHighest vs lowest state

Providers in New York billed the most for this, at $269.43. In Guam the average was $58.43. Same procedure code, same programme.

Whose price this is

These are Medicare figures. The billed column is what providers asked for. The allowed column is what Medicare agreed to pay. Neither is what an uninsured patient gets charged, and neither is what a private insurer negotiates.

The gap between the two columns is the point. A hospital billing three times what Medicare allows tells you the billed number was never a price. It was an opening position.

By state

StateBilledMedicare allowedGapServices
New York$269.43$84.393.2x158,950
Wisconsin$265.77$56.614.7x18,175
New Jersey$245.77$93.012.6x57,627
New Hampshire$225.68$58.343.9x5,153
California$206.69$87.022.4x153,057
Maryland$204.41$89.842.3x43,206
Connecticut$188.23$77.712.4x12,737
Texas$187.02$74.222.5x111,712
Alaska$185.76$35.735.2x1,267
Massachusetts$184.25$78.142.4x44,222
Pennsylvania$183.81$71.012.6x41,982
Illinois$183.02$60.843.0x34,478
Iowa$180.82$55.453.3x5,442
West Virginia$179.93$48.813.7x2,326
Oregon$179.29$60.653.0x6,949
Arizona$177.40$80.872.2x30,615
Utah$173.19$82.962.1x8,694
Florida$166.26$69.942.4x229,971
Tennessee$163.56$68.912.4x31,505
Louisiana$157.55$52.133.0x12,970
Hawaii$156.76$74.052.1x1,655
Wyoming$156.64$75.362.1x151
Colorado$156.63$61.742.5x11,601
Missouri$154.61$53.342.9x14,161
District of Columbia$154.36$46.853.3x1,994
Rhode Island$154.10$33.724.6x1,460
Armed Forces Pacific$152.32$57.762.6x68
South Carolina$151.67$65.082.3x20,663
Minnesota$151.65$43.323.5x9,963
Ohio$149.89$63.922.3x27,707
Washington$149.37$69.422.2x14,153
Virginia$148.99$61.082.4x25,339
Kansas$148.37$45.563.3x8,492
Michigan$147.53$55.862.6x11,749
New Mexico$146.20$58.352.5x5,354
Idaho$145.50$65.332.2x2,497
Oklahoma$143.96$47.783.0x9,770
North Carolina$142.09$67.212.1x23,544
Mississippi$140.75$39.103.6x8,771
Nevada$139.26$60.522.3x2,741
Kentucky$133.59$47.202.8x6,843
Puerto Rico$133.49$94.151.4x2,627
Georgia$131.72$94.271.4x108,751
North Dakota$129.95$34.803.7x2,633
Delaware$128.46$59.862.1x3,309
Arkansas$128.38$60.692.1x65,079
Alabama$126.59$70.041.8x14,554
Indiana$123.41$46.002.7x9,601
Vermont$121.04$29.674.1x1,136
Armed Forces Europe$121.00$27.574.4x31
South Dakota$101.79$33.823.0x1,744
Montana$100.53$44.402.3x1,508
Nebraska$98.92$31.393.2x3,877
Foreign Country$81.49$25.583.2x44
Maine$76.90$31.442.4x1,636
Guam$58.43$26.652.2x135

Source: CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Geography and Service. Weighted by service volume across places of service.

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