How much does Medicare pay for CPT 17262?

Medicare allowed an average of $148.27 per service and paid $112.13 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $363.22, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 17262?

Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk, arms, or legs, 1.1-2.0 cm. It was billed 264,596 times to 209,058 Medicare beneficiaries by 6,270 providers in 2024.

Does 17262 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $149.66 in an office setting and $80.21 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 17262 most?

Dermatology, with 200,975 services from 4,386 clinicians. Next are Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.

CPT 17262

Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk, arms, or legs, 1.1-2.0 cm

$148.27Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 264,596 services

Providers submitted

$363.22

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$148.27

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$112.13

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $363.22 for this code and Medicare allowed $148.27 — 2.4× 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 $112.13 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $149.66
Hospital / facility: $80.21

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. 259,307 services were billed in an office setting and 5,289 in a facility.

Services: 264,596
Beneficiaries: 209,058
Providers billing it: 6,270
Total allowed: $39,231,649

What Medicare pays for CPT 17262

Across 264,596 services billed by 6,270 providers to 209,058 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $148.27 per service. That is 1.3 services per beneficiary, so this is a code patients typically receive more than once. 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 17262

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	200,975	157,701	$153.03	4,386
Physician Assistant	42,608	34,696	$133.20	1,276
Nurse Practitioner	13,953	11,242	$132.65	421
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	4,720	3,690	$129.42	130
Family Practice	792	574	$146.84	17
Internal Medicine	437	305	$149.37	13
Pathology	213	175	$157.15	5
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	193	142	$130.46	7
General Practice	153	112	$134.72	2
Pediatric Medicine	129	88	$131.53	1
Otolaryngology	117	87	$135.80	3
Undefined Physician type	112	83	$136.58	2
Emergency Medicine	59	54	$145.93	2
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine	50	38	$152.99	2
Preventive Medicine	43	37	$157.95	1

17262 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	53,945	$148.45	$111.30	875
California	22,721	$164.76	$109.34	483
Texas	13,393	$149.45	$111.92	398
Pennsylvania	13,283	$148.89	$108.31	314
Arizona	12,263	$147.43	$111.07	241
North Carolina	12,053	$140.59	$109.78	291
New York	9,493	$169.07	$112.39	264
Virginia	8,317	$154.06	$112.91	181
Georgia	7,841	$142.64	$111.80	193
South Carolina	7,580	$138.40	$109.54	143
Indiana	6,674	$136.43	$104.62	138
Massachusetts	6,266	$158.34	$110.87	166
New Jersey	5,722	$177.10	$117.60	157
Ohio	5,664	$144.64	$112.38	185
Tennessee	5,653	$136.85	$110.44	151
Illinois	5,387	$149.45	$109.54	167
Michigan	4,478	$145.33	$107.20	145
Colorado	4,277	$153.72	$109.06	133
Kentucky	4,206	$140.15	$111.84	105
Maryland	4,007	$163.65	$112.26	102
Missouri	3,999	$144.19	$110.18	118
Arkansas	3,862	$130.43	$109.63	79
Washington	3,753	$147.31	$104.99	129
Alabama	3,057	$127.86	$108.23	73
Oregon	2,523	$152.51	$111.46	75
Oklahoma	2,442	$139.25	$110.44	70
South Dakota	2,366	$84.95	$65.42	31
Wisconsin	2,260	$124.68	$93.87	81
New Hampshire	2,183	$136.67	$96.57	45
Iowa	2,166	$135.96	$104.82	58
Connecticut	1,959	$169.30	$117.03	73
Kansas	1,913	$142.12	$109.47	57
Minnesota	1,876	$139.72	$101.49	77
Mississippi	1,619	$135.66	$113.95	41
Nebraska	1,616	$136.44	$103.89	35
Utah	1,447	$138.06	$108.86	50
Delaware	1,389	$157.55	$117.28	20
Maine	1,371	$147.78	$104.27	31
Louisiana	1,262	$144.44	$115.18	45
New Mexico	1,191	$136.89	$108.63	38
Nevada	1,160	$147.84	$110.35	39
Idaho	1,095	$111.22	$88.36	31
Hawaii	914	$150.86	$107.03	21
Montana	865	$141.54	$103.63	27
West Virginia	819	$134.19	$108.64	33
Vermont	610	$118.67	$86.66	14
Rhode Island	576	$150.94	$109.50	18
North Dakota	433	$107.35	$82.26	12
Alaska	316	$175.70	$117.46	7
District of Columbia	214	$171.62	$119.28	4
Wyoming	66	$144.69	$112.70	4
Puerto Rico	37	$174.83	$132.44	1
U.S. Virgin Islands	14	$164.13	$112.82	1

Related codes

17250Application of chemical to stop tissue regrowth in wound$51.54
17261Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk$117.97
17272Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp$154.94
17282Destruction of cancer skin growth of face$172.77
17281Destruction of cancer skin growth of face$143.74
17263Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk$169.10
17271Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp$126.74
17280Destruction of cancer skin growth of face$100.61
17260Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk$73.83
17283Destruction of cancer skin growth of face$211.66
17273Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp$177.31
17270Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp$99.23

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.