How much does Medicare pay for CPT 32550?

Medicare allowed an average of $209.41 per service and paid $165.78 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1779.50, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 32550?

Insertion of indwelling tube for drainage of lung fluid. It was billed 1,502 times to 1,373 Medicare beneficiaries by 87 providers in 2024.

Does 32550 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $689.50 in an office setting and $205.54 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 32550 most?

Thoracic Surgery, with 414 services from 24 clinicians. Next are Pulmonary Disease, Cardiac Surgery, Diagnostic Radiology.

CPT 32550

Insertion of indwelling tube for drainage of lung fluid

$209.41Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 1,502 services

Providers submitted

$1779.50

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$209.41

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$165.78

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1779.50 for this code and Medicare allowed $209.41 — 8.5× 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 $165.78 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $689.50
Hospital / facility: $205.54

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. 12 services were billed in an office setting and 1,490 in a facility.

Services: 1,502
Beneficiaries: 1,373
Providers billing it: 87
Total allowed: $314,534

What Medicare pays for CPT 32550

Across 1,502 services billed by 87 providers to 1,373 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $209.41 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 32550

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Thoracic Surgery	414	382	$209.43	24
Pulmonary Disease	409	390	$207.14	25
Cardiac Surgery	173	140	$212.75	4
Diagnostic Radiology	137	126	$212.61	10
Interventional Radiology	95	87	$199.09	7
Critical Care (Intensivists)	80	78	$202.15	6
Physician Assistant	65	57	$262.32	4
General Surgery	62	57	$205.44	3
Internal Medicine	53	43	$188.66	3
Nurse Practitioner	14	13	$164.23	1

32550 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	249	$207.54	$154.68	14
New York	244	$229.02	$154.08	11
Texas	155	$199.68	$152.63	8
Massachusetts	129	$204.88	$155.14	6
Florida	107	$209.56	$155.94	7
Delaware	92	$196.56	$156.14	5
New Jersey	83	$216.14	$154.14	5
Pennsylvania	71	$199.72	$155.23	5
Maryland	57	$299.77	$223.42	3
Illinois	46	$212.65	$156.14	4
Michigan	32	$209.12	$156.27	2
North Carolina	32	$186.39	$156.19	2
Connecticut	28	$210.73	$156.12	2
South Carolina	24	$170.85	$141.77	2
Kentucky	20	$171.84	$156.59	1
Wisconsin	18	$182.03	$156.16	1
Arizona	16	$163.79	$133.10	1
Oklahoma	14	$160.80	$123.49	1
Missouri	14	$164.23	$132.31	1
South Dakota	13	$181.62	$155.79	1
Tennessee	12	$182.47	$155.94	1
Vermont	12	$235.04	$156.16	1
Nebraska	12	$170.58	$155.95	1
Indiana	11	$186.03	$155.89	1
Louisiana	11	$189.93	$156.35	1

Related codes

32555Aspiration of fluid from chest cavity$104.45
32557Drainage of fluid from chest cavity$139.36
32554Aspiration of fluid from chest cavity$87.63
32551Removal of fluid from between lung and chest cavity$139.83

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.