How much does Medicare pay for CPT 17263?

Medicare allowed an average of $169.10 per service and paid $128.60 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $380.60, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 17263?

Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk, arms, or legs, 2.1-3.0 cm. It was billed 24,571 times to 20,585 Medicare beneficiaries by 916 providers in 2024.

Does 17263 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $169.78 in an office setting and $92.88 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 17263 most?

Dermatology, with 20,551 services from 746 clinicians. Next are Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.

CPT 17263

Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk, arms, or legs, 2.1-3.0 cm

$169.10Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 24,571 services

Providers submitted

$380.60

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$169.10

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$128.60

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $380.60 for this code and Medicare allowed $169.10 — 2.3× 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 $128.60 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $169.78
Hospital / facility: $92.88

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. 24,352 services were billed in an office setting and 219 in a facility.

Services: 24,571
Beneficiaries: 20,585
Providers billing it: 916
Total allowed: $4,154,956

What Medicare pays for CPT 17263

Across 24,571 services billed by 916 providers to 20,585 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $169.10 per service. That is 1.2 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 17263

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	20,551	17,208	$173.21	746
Physician Assistant	2,497	2,138	$149.22	113
Nurse Practitioner	951	743	$142.50	32
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	341	308	$153.66	18
Internal Medicine	56	29	$110.04	2
Pathology	53	45	$174.41	1
Pediatric Medicine	38	34	$144.19	1
Family Practice	37	35	$181.91	1
General Practice	33	31	$147.42	1
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	14	14	$157.50	1

17263 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	5,571	$166.51	$125.25	173
California	3,221	$177.37	$119.81	100
New York	1,576	$195.41	$128.96	42
Pennsylvania	995	$174.18	$128.11	38
Texas	925	$168.67	$127.88	42
Georgia	860	$153.42	$119.48	31
South Carolina	855	$157.19	$124.77	35
North Carolina	851	$158.40	$124.64	34
Arizona	850	$165.16	$125.67	34
Virginia	808	$168.64	$123.90	29
Indiana	782	$150.48	$117.28	23
Maryland	652	$182.71	$129.44	21
Illinois	589	$167.52	$122.35	25
Massachusetts	552	$186.79	$129.10	27
New Jersey	504	$196.98	$135.68	28
Kentucky	425	$155.25	$125.46	18
Missouri	344	$170.56	$132.89	15
Tennessee	329	$151.05	$122.85	13
Arkansas	328	$155.39	$128.06	14
Alabama	321	$148.00	$123.88	15
Ohio	284	$162.03	$126.00	15
New Hampshire	243	$168.68	$125.48	9
Michigan	240	$176.69	$132.74	14
Delaware	219	$178.06	$129.09	8
Washington	196	$169.12	$117.93	12
Connecticut	179	$194.03	$133.21	11
Nebraska	163	$158.47	$124.98	6
Iowa	145	$157.66	$121.74	5
Wisconsin	134	$158.02	$122.33	6
Colorado	133	$184.33	$133.92	8
Oklahoma	131	$159.23	$124.73	7
Oregon	127	$168.19	$127.17	5
Utah	118	$157.25	$125.85	7
Minnesota	113	$172.06	$133.82	6
Mississippi	106	$141.32	$118.94	4
Kansas	100	$170.31	$128.39	5
Montana	96	$161.62	$120.47	4
South Dakota	93	$85.78	$68.38	4
Nevada	78	$165.66	$123.43	4
Louisiana	66	$168.69	$133.47	4
Rhode Island	43	$151.98	$117.27	2
Maine	36	$158.73	$115.63	2
Hawaii	32	$177.91	$125.89	1
New Mexico	32	$147.34	$119.00	2
Idaho	32	$116.56	$94.40	2
West Virginia	27	$144.89	$119.43	2
Wyoming	19	$184.26	$139.98	1
Vermont	17	$109.59	$70.74	1
North Dakota	16	$102.14	$65.54	1
Alaska	15	$161.44	$123.33	1

Related codes

17262Destruction of cancer skin growth of trunk$148.27
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
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.