How much does Medicare pay for CPT 15240?

Medicare allowed an average of $841.38 per service and paid $665.07 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $2289.93, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 15240?

Full thickness skin graft to forehead, cheeks, chin, mouth, neck, underarms, genitals, hands, or feet, 20.0 sq cm or less. It was billed 3,661 times to 3,522 Medicare beneficiaries by 178 providers in 2024.

Does 15240 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $877.70 in an office setting and $720.88 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 15240 most?

Dermatology, with 2,074 services from 96 clinicians. Next are Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Ambulatory Surgical Center.

CPT 15240

Full thickness skin graft to forehead, cheeks, chin, mouth, neck, underarms, genitals, hands, or feet, 20.0 sq cm or less

$841.38Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 3,661 services

Providers submitted

$2289.93

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$841.38

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$665.07

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $2289.93 for this code and Medicare allowed $841.38 — 2.7× 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 $665.07 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $877.70
Hospital / facility: $720.88

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. 2,813 services were billed in an office setting and 848 in a facility.

Services: 3,661
Beneficiaries: 3,522
Providers billing it: 178
Total allowed: $3,080,292

What Medicare pays for CPT 15240

Across 3,661 services billed by 178 providers to 3,522 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $841.38 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 15240

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	2,074	1,992	$885.82	96
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	526	508	$836.34	26
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	430	418	$790.92	17
Ambulatory Surgical Center	319	304	$845.62	17
Urology	89	88	$450.22	6
Otolaryngology	49	48	$575.25	4
Physician Assistant	47	45	$766.38	3
Ophthalmology	37	37	$641.70	3
Undefined Physician type	16	15	$963.42	1
General Surgery	16	13	$609.66	1
Hand Surgery	15	11	$549.58	1
Pathology	15	15	$631.10	1
General Practice	15	15	$965.21	1
Maxillofacial Surgery	13	13	$611.75	1

15240 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	458	$865.31	$673.48	25
Massachusetts	368	$923.98	$690.06	13
California	362	$879.32	$646.37	16
Texas	228	$867.47	$697.05	12
South Carolina	216	$814.88	$689.87	4
Arizona	199	$793.27	$628.39	9
Illinois	185	$890.16	$676.11	8
Georgia	155	$873.87	$721.10	7
Virginia	132	$851.60	$694.36	8
Kentucky	103	$838.53	$706.66	6
Pennsylvania	95	$777.23	$583.92	6
Ohio	89	$676.40	$588.61	3
Washington	86	$822.76	$646.69	4
Arkansas	79	$799.46	$695.31	2
New York	76	$996.46	$671.00	5
Missouri	72	$773.97	$653.35	3
Tennessee	68	$784.33	$694.61	4
Kansas	66	$757.26	$630.07	4
Delaware	60	$732.18	$589.52	4
Alabama	59	$806.99	$666.85	2
New Hampshire	46	$804.91	$625.13	3
Oregon	43	$861.01	$685.01	3
Connecticut	43	$947.64	$684.66	2
Indiana	41	$840.77	$681.46	3
Maryland	41	$812.85	$601.75	3
Louisiana	34	$837.62	$691.80	2
West Virginia	31	$858.92	$702.80	2
New Jersey	31	$907.45	$661.87	1
Mississippi	29	$692.91	$595.60	2
Michigan	28	$680.25	$543.89	2
North Carolina	26	$787.72	$672.17	2
Minnesota	21	$435.63	$370.13	1
North Dakota	16	$761.11	$598.18	1
Nebraska	15	$549.58	$477.58	1
Idaho	14	$862.55	$701.47	1
Nevada	12	$869.87	$659.44	1
Utah	12	$496.54	$401.08	1
Oklahoma	11	$773.59	$664.53	1
Wisconsin	11	$800.06	$729.90	1

Related codes

15271Application of skin substitute graft to wound of trunk$128.42
15275Application of skin substitute graft to wound of face$129.23
15260Full thickness skin graft to nose$928.72
15272Application of skin substitute graft to wound of trunk$22.96
15274Skin substitute graft to wound 100.0 sq cm or more of trunk$48.85
15273Skin substitute graft to wound 100.0 sq cm or more of trunk$211.10
15220Full thickness skin graft to scalp$669.90
15276Application of skin substitute graft to wound of face$29.63

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.