How much does Medicare pay for CPT 17283?

Medicare allowed an average of $211.66 per service and paid $161.94 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $402.49, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 17283?

Destruction of cancer skin growth of face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips, or mouth, 2.1-3.0 cm. It was billed 4,444 times to 3,355 Medicare beneficiaries by 108 providers in 2024.

Does 17283 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $214.22 in an office setting and $148.74 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 17283 most?

Dermatology, with 3,484 services from 84 clinicians. Next are Nurse Practitioner, Physician Assistant, Internal Medicine.

CPT 17283

Destruction of cancer skin growth of face, ears, eyelids, nose, lips, or mouth, 2.1-3.0 cm

$211.66Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 4,444 services

Providers submitted

$402.49

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$211.66

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$161.94

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $402.49 for this code and Medicare allowed $211.66 — 1.9× 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 $161.94 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $214.22
Hospital / facility: $148.74

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. 4,270 services were billed in an office setting and 174 in a facility.

Services: 4,444
Beneficiaries: 3,355
Providers billing it: 108
Total allowed: $940,617

What Medicare pays for CPT 17283

Across 4,444 services billed by 108 providers to 3,355 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $211.66 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 17283

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Dermatology	3,484	2,672	$214.90	84
Nurse Practitioner	426	252	$188.78	4
Physician Assistant	252	218	$195.56	13
Internal Medicine	93	64	$216.03	2
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	58	42	$213.50	1
Pediatric Medicine	41	32	$206.97	1
Pathology	40	34	$251.16	1
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	31	25	$214.37	1
Family Practice	19	16	$239.17	1

17283 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
California	1,189	$211.45	$144.71	20
Florida	819	$207.55	$153.06	13
New York	487	$230.85	$156.89	9
Indiana	328	$200.14	$157.09	5
Arizona	206	$210.79	$166.13	3
Georgia	163	$209.30	$170.91	5
Virginia	139	$218.72	$143.32	2
Maryland	104	$239.15	$176.28	4
Pennsylvania	100	$205.54	$155.19	5
Arkansas	90	$191.08	$159.56	3
Kentucky	89	$197.39	$153.50	1
Nebraska	85	$200.41	$153.21	5
Texas	75	$230.41	$172.75	5
Massachusetts	73	$248.78	$166.71	3
Tennessee	62	$192.03	$169.18	3
North Carolina	44	$199.43	$173.04	2
Alabama	42	$193.34	$146.30	2
Illinois	36	$223.23	$173.78	2
Mississippi	32	$163.49	$145.57	1
Colorado	32	$241.39	$167.18	1
South Carolina	28	$184.99	$159.26	2
New Jersey	25	$266.13	$191.04	1
Iowa	24	$231.40	$182.37	1
Vermont	23	$154.78	$112.66	1
Oregon	21	$222.86	$160.43	1
Oklahoma	21	$205.52	$190.84	1
New Hampshire	21	$237.66	$182.96	1
South Dakota	18	$148.42	$115.21	1
Michigan	16	$203.69	$194.08	1
Montana	14	$169.98	$136.53	1
Idaho	13	$188.85	$168.98	1
Kansas	13	$227.04	$175.39	1
West Virginia	12	$174.22	$149.05	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
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
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.