How much does Medicare pay for CPT 31632?

Medicare allowed an average of $47.23 per service and paid $37.57 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $278.56, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 31632?

Biopsy of lobe of lung using an endoscope, each additional lobe. It was billed 2,897 times to 2,412 Medicare beneficiaries by 122 providers in 2024.

Does 31632 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $48.25 in an office setting and $47.23 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 31632 most?

Pulmonary Disease, with 2,265 services from 95 clinicians. Next are Critical Care (Intensivists), Internal Medicine, Diagnostic Radiology.

CPT 31632

Biopsy of lobe of lung using an endoscope, each additional lobe

$47.23Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 2,897 services

Providers submitted

$278.56

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$47.23

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$37.57

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $278.56 for this code and Medicare allowed $47.23 — 5.9× 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 $37.57 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $48.25
Hospital / facility: $47.23

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. 11 services were billed in an office setting and 2,886 in a facility.

Services: 2,897
Beneficiaries: 2,412
Providers billing it: 122
Total allowed: $136,825

What Medicare pays for CPT 31632

Across 2,897 services billed by 122 providers to 2,412 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $47.23 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 31632

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Pulmonary Disease	2,265	1,905	$46.90	95
Critical Care (Intensivists)	422	330	$48.71	18
Internal Medicine	137	122	$47.88	7
Diagnostic Radiology	56	41	$46.20	1
Undefined Physician type	17	14	$52.55	1

31632 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
Arizona	486	$46.33	$37.21	14
Ohio	341	$46.05	$37.28	16
California	255	$49.65	$37.05	9
Texas	231	$47.05	$37.01	10
New York	229	$53.28	$37.15	9
Florida	201	$46.74	$37.04	8
Tennessee	186	$43.06	$37.60	6
Pennsylvania	131	$48.29	$37.20	6
Missouri	106	$46.39	$36.22	6
Minnesota	92	$46.93	$37.19	4
Illinois	89	$45.61	$37.56	6
Georgia	67	$47.01	$37.18	2
Delaware	65	$47.08	$37.18	3
North Carolina	62	$42.27	$36.64	4
Massachusetts	50	$48.58	$37.19	2
Colorado	46	$47.00	$36.39	2
Washington	41	$47.72	$37.20	2
Wisconsin	38	$45.08	$37.66	1
Virginia	32	$46.85	$37.28	2
District of Columbia	21	$54.45	$37.23	1
Connecticut	19	$49.10	$37.22	1
Kentucky	19	$52.42	$37.16	1
Indiana	16	$44.44	$37.24	1
Louisiana	15	$45.53	$37.28	1
South Carolina	14	$52.03	$37.15	1
Montana	12	$46.90	$37.22	1
Arkansas	11	$43.80	$37.15	1
Nebraska	11	$43.82	$37.21	1
Maryland	11	$49.26	$37.16	1

Related codes

31624Irrigation and suction of lung airways to obtain cells$57.02
31628Biopsy of lobe of lung$77.25
31627Computer-assisted image-guided navigation of lung airways$93.76
31629Needle biopsy of windpipe cartilage$144.37
31645Aspiration of initial secretion of lung airway$83.67
31654Exam of lung airways$64.48
31652Exam of lung airways and sampling of lymph nodes$173.21
31653Exam of lung airways and sampling of lymph nodes$221.80
31622Diagnostic exam of lung airway$108.89
31615Exam of windpipe and lung airways through permanent windpipe opening$145.91
31623Exam of lung airways$15.29
31625Biopsy of lung airway$72.30

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.