How much does Medicare pay for CPT 32408?

Medicare allowed an average of $160.79 per service and paid $125.23 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1380.76, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 32408?

Core needle biopsy of lung or center cavity of chest (mediastinum), accessed through skin. It was billed 25,121 times to 24,744 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,311 providers in 2024.

Does 32408 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $560.83 in an office setting and $145.67 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 32408 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 15,563 services from 830 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Physician Assistant, Ambulatory Surgical Center.

CPT 32408

Core needle biopsy of lung or center cavity of chest (mediastinum), accessed through skin

$160.79Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 25,121 services

Providers submitted

$1380.76

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$160.79

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$125.23

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1380.76 for this code and Medicare allowed $160.79 — 8.6× 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 $125.23 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $560.83
Hospital / facility: $145.67

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. 915 services were billed in an office setting and 24,206 in a facility.

Services: 25,121
Beneficiaries: 24,744
Providers billing it: 1,311
Total allowed: $4,039,206

What Medicare pays for CPT 32408

Across 25,121 services billed by 1,311 providers to 24,744 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $160.79 per service. 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 32408

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	15,563	15,319	$163.22	830
Interventional Radiology	8,813	8,692	$154.43	446
Physician Assistant	411	404	$120.35	20
Ambulatory Surgical Center	77	75	$698.20	2
Nurse Practitioner	67	66	$118.15	4
Internal Medicine	46	46	$145.64	2
Interventional Cardiology	37	37	$147.45	1
Vascular Surgery	35	34	$141.07	1
General Surgery	21	21	$145.59	1
Interventional Pain Management	15	14	$143.32	1
Family Practice	13	13	$150.20	1
Critical Care (Intensivists)	12	12	$92.64	1
Undefined Physician type	11	11	$136.08	1

32408 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	2,466	$165.80	$121.48	134
New York	1,934	$173.90	$123.19	93
Texas	1,864	$158.11	$124.99	97
Florida	1,824	$172.59	$131.71	88
Virginia	1,065	$141.65	$112.49	59
Illinois	1,003	$148.88	$111.77	51
Ohio	878	$142.17	$112.86	49
Pennsylvania	810	$147.13	$112.30	49
Arizona	796	$139.95	$110.47	34
Massachusetts	744	$149.31	$109.62	40
Missouri	670	$143.10	$113.18	36
Washington	626	$144.80	$111.21	34
Arkansas	615	$226.05	$197.06	24
Michigan	595	$165.24	$127.74	37
Maryland	555	$181.59	$136.24	26
Iowa	488	$136.50	$113.13	22
Oklahoma	475	$138.04	$109.29	24
Tennessee	469	$339.16	$290.28	21
Georgia	462	$145.15	$110.47	25
Minnesota	434	$139.85	$111.87	23
Indiana	429	$135.69	$108.59	27
New Jersey	429	$154.01	$110.42	21
South Carolina	396	$140.13	$111.27	23
North Carolina	369	$135.56	$108.52	22
Kentucky	369	$139.04	$110.13	20
Nebraska	355	$173.27	$148.18	16
Mississippi	339	$139.06	$115.33	15
Kansas	330	$136.15	$110.80	16
Louisiana	320	$144.31	$113.90	16
Wisconsin	280	$136.34	$112.55	15
South Dakota	269	$138.31	$110.01	11
North Dakota	256	$140.73	$111.58	12
Alabama	223	$135.57	$111.05	14
West Virginia	204	$143.36	$111.87	11
Oregon	196	$143.64	$109.66	10
Utah	195	$139.32	$110.31	8
New Hampshire	186	$142.59	$109.86	10
Nevada	157	$247.22	$196.33	8
Connecticut	129	$154.04	$113.78	10
New Mexico	115	$284.78	$240.44	8
Colorado	111	$142.86	$108.70	9
Vermont	99	$135.30	$101.09	4
Idaho	97	$138.38	$113.39	7
Alaska	88	$368.07	$204.22	6
Montana	81	$144.37	$112.43	6
Rhode Island	74	$147.45	$110.80	4
Delaware	64	$144.05	$115.07	4
Wyoming	57	$138.31	$109.19	4
District of Columbia	49	$155.49	$114.73	3
Maine	44	$150.21	$111.11	3
Guam	20	$886.91	$663.66	1
AA	18	$132.96	$102.15	1

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.