How much does Medicare pay for CPT 32674?

Medicare allowed an average of $171.13 per service and paid $136.70 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $823.38, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 32674?

Removal of lymph nodes of chest cavity using an endoscope. It was billed 15,604 times to 15,486 Medicare beneficiaries by 706 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 32674 most?

Thoracic Surgery, with 10,843 services from 463 clinicians. Next are Physician Assistant, Cardiac Surgery, General Surgery.

CPT 32674

Removal of lymph nodes of chest cavity using an endoscope

$171.13Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 15,604 services

Providers submitted

$823.38

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$171.13

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$136.70

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $823.38 for this code and Medicare allowed $171.13 — 4.8× 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 $136.70 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 15,604
Beneficiaries: 15,486
Providers billing it: 706
Total allowed: $2,670,313

What Medicare pays for CPT 32674

Across 15,604 services billed by 706 providers to 15,486 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $171.13 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 32674

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Thoracic Surgery	10,843	10,750	$204.61	463
Physician Assistant	2,698	2,684	$29.07	139
Cardiac Surgery	928	926	$201.81	48
General Surgery	817	809	$198.01	38
Nurse Practitioner	211	211	$29.00	13
Cardiology	60	60	$168.76	3
Undefined Physician type	27	26	$193.40	1
Critical Care (Intensivists)	20	20	$137.61	1

32674 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
New York	1,752	$199.48	$135.08	67
Florida	1,389	$159.96	$115.28	57
California	1,211	$177.97	$140.06	53
Illinois	1,056	$181.59	$128.39	37
Massachusetts	1,016	$185.28	$143.09	46
Pennsylvania	823	$175.65	$138.56	41
New Jersey	592	$169.86	$125.80	23
North Carolina	537	$142.48	$121.50	24
Maryland	515	$166.93	$125.17	18
Texas	503	$187.97	$146.47	25
Virginia	483	$155.29	$124.13	20
Ohio	452	$169.51	$137.09	21
Washington	429	$165.36	$132.59	22
Tennessee	372	$181.33	$157.11	15
Georgia	360	$171.84	$136.18	18
Wisconsin	282	$143.27	$127.70	13
Colorado	273	$131.98	$106.70	14
Oregon	272	$155.96	$126.97	14
Arizona	256	$131.95	$108.16	11
South Carolina	245	$144.80	$122.64	12
Kentucky	222	$159.76	$136.57	14
Minnesota	205	$159.28	$134.49	14
Missouri	205	$183.34	$148.59	12
Indiana	202	$151.59	$138.22	12
Michigan	177	$214.84	$154.45	12
Nebraska	173	$140.11	$128.04	9
Connecticut	160	$156.28	$118.39	9
Delaware	155	$169.98	$134.08	6
New Hampshire	148	$139.48	$108.16	7
Kansas	122	$185.29	$159.45	4
Louisiana	121	$129.18	$104.47	8
District of Columbia	117	$218.91	$164.52	4
Alabama	103	$151.55	$137.92	5
West Virginia	80	$184.93	$142.43	4
Iowa	80	$115.85	$102.31	4
Idaho	76	$143.29	$132.50	6
Oklahoma	64	$162.93	$141.44	4
Hawaii	58	$192.06	$165.53	3
Mississippi	51	$193.18	$164.47	3
Maine	47	$201.53	$164.38	3
Nevada	44	$145.06	$116.47	3
Rhode Island	42	$205.80	$164.16	2
Arkansas	37	$174.13	$156.39	2
Vermont	34	$189.89	$164.43	1
Utah	27	$123.88	$101.10	2
Montana	24	$27.96	$22.37	1
Alaska	12	$262.40	$164.00	1

Related codes

32663Exam of lung with removal of lung lobe using an endoscope$1114.40
32666Initial removal of wedge of lung tissue$700.26
32669Removal of segment of lung tissue$1207.57

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.