How much does Medicare pay for CPT 17272?

Medicare allowed an average of $154.94 per service and paid $117.80 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $344.53, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 17272?

Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp, neck, hands, feet, or genitals, 1.1-2.0 cm. It was billed 46,404 times to 37,638 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,492 providers in 2024.

Does 17272 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $158.40 in an office setting and $69.45 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 17272 most?

Dermatology, with 39,259 services from 1,191 clinicians. Next are Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.

CPT 17272

Destruction of cancer skin growth of scalp, neck, hands, feet, or genitals, 1.1-2.0 cm

$154.94Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 46,404 services

Providers submitted

$344.53

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$154.94

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$117.80

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $344.53 for this code and Medicare allowed $154.94 — 2.2× 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 $117.80 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $158.40
Hospital / facility: $69.45

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. 44,603 services were billed in an office setting and 1,801 in a facility.

Services: 46,404
Beneficiaries: 37,638
Providers billing it: 1,492
Total allowed: $7,189,836

What Medicare pays for CPT 17272

Across 46,404 services billed by 1,492 providers to 37,638 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $154.94 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 17272

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	39,259	31,600	$157.60	1,191
Physician Assistant	4,725	4,070	$139.69	203
Nurse Practitioner	1,351	1,129	$139.59	56
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	547	462	$140.13	23
Family Practice	218	140	$147.43	6
Internal Medicine	80	54	$152.82	4
Pediatric Medicine	47	37	$137.29	1
Otolaryngology	46	30	$134.06	2
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	45	40	$151.26	2
Pathology	43	37	$169.20	2
General Practice	43	39	$150.67	2

17272 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	8,003	$164.48	$123.83	262
California	5,755	$150.47	$103.75	111
Arizona	2,352	$162.83	$123.08	71
Texas	2,166	$165.34	$124.93	97
North Carolina	2,083	$152.22	$120.35	69
Pennsylvania	2,018	$164.84	$120.32	77
Georgia	1,992	$156.01	$124.24	64
Arkansas	1,762	$135.30	$114.85	40
South Dakota	1,573	$70.61	$56.95	11
New York	1,492	$181.54	$121.77	43
South Carolina	1,443	$151.40	$121.36	42
Indiana	1,106	$140.37	$110.10	37
Virginia	1,033	$171.67	$125.42	45
Tennessee	987	$149.94	$123.06	40
Alabama	895	$136.21	$116.84	19
Maryland	800	$162.90	$116.15	21
New Jersey	691	$186.85	$127.34	28
Illinois	653	$158.54	$120.98	26
Nebraska	647	$139.95	$109.79	15
Kentucky	625	$157.64	$126.63	28
Massachusetts	587	$176.01	$125.19	24
Colorado	584	$171.86	$120.63	30
Oregon	524	$170.73	$127.13	16
Utah	508	$142.38	$110.49	16
Missouri	497	$157.76	$121.59	20
Washington	477	$156.51	$114.11	24
Ohio	472	$159.15	$126.92	24
Iowa	468	$153.88	$120.04	17
Oklahoma	459	$150.25	$118.80	20
Michigan	418	$171.67	$128.89	22
Louisiana	375	$159.19	$125.99	15
New Hampshire	371	$153.74	$114.65	15
Kansas	333	$163.48	$130.50	13
Mississippi	299	$139.83	$121.85	14
New Mexico	267	$157.46	$125.97	9
Maine	261	$167.89	$115.11	9
Idaho	184	$125.70	$98.80	10
Hawaii	170	$156.23	$115.85	3
Delaware	167	$174.49	$128.38	6
Nevada	162	$151.22	$116.33	6
Vermont	139	$113.69	$80.87	2
Wisconsin	125	$151.94	$109.59	6
Minnesota	110	$124.50	$84.05	6
West Virginia	82	$151.75	$124.80	6
North Dakota	75	$106.64	$81.63	2
Connecticut	61	$169.55	$116.61	4
Montana	44	$166.50	$121.26	2
Rhode Island	42	$122.95	$98.00	2
Puerto Rico	37	$184.68	$137.18	1
District of Columbia	30	$185.83	$135.26	2

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
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.