How much does Medicare pay for CPT 14021?

Medicare allowed an average of $829.45 per service and paid $655.81 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $2074.61, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 14021?

Repair of wound of scalp, arms, or legs by transferring skin, 10.1-30.0 sq cm. It was billed 13,510 times to 12,223 Medicare beneficiaries by 400 providers in 2024.

Does 14021 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $857.84 in an office setting and $730.34 in a facility. The office rate is generally higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that single payment; in a hospital those are billed separately by the facility.

Which specialty bills 14021 most?

Dermatology, with 6,886 services from 202 clinicians. Next are Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Ambulatory Surgical Center, Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.

CPT 14021

Repair of wound of scalp, arms, or legs by transferring skin, 10.1-30.0 sq cm

$829.45Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 13,510 services

Providers submitted

$2074.61

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$829.45

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$655.81

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $2074.61 for this code and Medicare allowed $829.45 — 2.5× less. That gap is normal and means nothing on its own: Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of what is billed, so the submitted figure describes a hospital chargemaster, not a price anyone paid. Of the allowed amount Medicare paid $655.81 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $857.84
Hospital / facility: $730.34

The office rate is higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that payment. In a hospital the facility bills those separately, so the clinician's share is smaller — the total cost to Medicare is usually higher, not lower. 10,502 services were billed in an office setting and 3,008 in a facility.

Services: 13,510
Beneficiaries: 12,223
Providers billing it: 400
Total allowed: $11,205,870

What Medicare pays for CPT 14021

Across 13,510 services billed by 400 providers to 12,223 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $829.45 per service. The allowed amount is the figure that matters: it is what Medicare and the patient together owe, set by the fee schedule and adjusted for local practice costs. What a provider chose to submit has no bearing on it.

Who bills 14021

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	6,886	6,254	$847.34	202
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	2,831	2,528	$803.46	81
Ambulatory Surgical Center	1,475	1,325	$815.27	40
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	975	919	$866.06	34
Otolaryngology	323	296	$813.24	9
Physician Assistant	321	305	$693.27	14
Neurosurgery	212	180	$855.85	2
General Surgery	111	97	$807.20	5
Ophthalmology	109	71	$804.86	3
Nurse Practitioner	74	70	$772.15	3
Surgical Oncology	52	49	$771.50	1
General Practice	50	44	$778.75	1
Undefined Physician type	30	29	$876.42	2
Family Practice	27	22	$781.44	1
Maxillofacial Surgery	19	19	$825.23	1

14021 reimbursement by state

Two different numbers. Allowed is what Medicare actually allowed in that state, which includes the local practice-cost adjustment. Standardized strips that geographic adjustment out of the payment, so it is the column to use when comparing states — a difference there reflects how the code was billed, not what it costs to run a practice locally.

State	Services	Allowed	Standardized pmt	Providers
Florida	2,034	$836.33	$648.12	53
California	1,733	$914.74	$649.40	58
New York	1,159	$896.49	$628.84	33
New Jersey	881	$915.53	$653.74	23
Pennsylvania	756	$823.10	$671.89	19
Arizona	635	$788.12	$616.08	22
Georgia	620	$733.40	$607.60	13
Texas	591	$805.24	$629.52	22
Delaware	515	$711.49	$572.26	9
Ohio	419	$830.55	$658.23	11
Indiana	371	$804.61	$664.55	11
Connecticut	333	$877.58	$656.44	5
Mississippi	315	$715.62	$639.38	6
South Carolina	297	$776.95	$649.08	9
Illinois	284	$871.77	$662.31	11
Washington	275	$804.45	$624.75	12
Tennessee	271	$780.72	$669.91	5
Utah	217	$704.67	$577.15	9
Maryland	186	$826.16	$627.16	8
Massachusetts	179	$872.46	$649.64	6
Virginia	164	$776.26	$620.37	8
Colorado	161	$848.51	$643.86	4
North Carolina	160	$750.91	$637.33	6
Oregon	142	$747.27	$600.48	2
Missouri	132	$752.31	$643.15	4
Kansas	125	$783.93	$654.77	7
Arkansas	62	$709.86	$649.46	2
Alabama	60	$760.01	$666.14	3
New Mexico	50	$823.29	$682.33	1
Louisiana	50	$778.75	$670.74	1
Montana	43	$852.75	$676.33	3
Rhode Island	41	$851.85	$670.55	1
District of Columbia	34	$396.93	$274.38	1
Minnesota	33	$835.21	$680.42	2
Nevada	31	$844.49	$680.65	1
Oklahoma	31	$798.41	$677.59	2
Wisconsin	29	$802.69	$662.51	1
Kentucky	28	$735.51	$606.88	2
Michigan	19	$817.49	$680.10	1
Idaho	17	$811.73	$677.95	1
South Dakota	16	$790.25	$688.93	1
New Hampshire	11	$864.21	$649.63	1

Related codes

14060Repair of wound of eyelids$715.65
14040Repair of wound of forehead$725.58
14041Repair of wound of forehead$874.01
14061Repair of wound of eyelids$911.44
14020Repair of wound of scalp$695.44
14001Repair of wound of trunk by transferring skin$607.15
14000Repair of wound of trunk by transferring skin$535.72

Billing this code is not the same as earning it

An allowed amount is revenue to a practice, not income to a clinician. It funds staff, premises, equipment and supplies before anyone is paid. What clinicians actually earn is published separately by the Department of Labor, and what industry pays them is published separately again by CMS — this site carries both.

What doctors are paid →·Look up a clinician →·All procedure codes →

Where this comes from. CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider and Service, 2024. It covers fee-for-service Original Medicare Part B only — not Medicare Advantage, not Medicaid, and not commercial insurance, which typically pays more for the same code.

How it is averaged. CMS publishes one average per provider per code. Every figure here is re-weighted by the number of services, so a clinician who billed the code 4,000 times counts 4,000 times more than one who billed it twice. CMS also suppresses any provider-code pair with fewer than 11 beneficiaries, so low-volume practice is missing from these totals by design.