How much does Medicare pay for CPT 36005?

Medicare allowed an average of $134.97 per service and paid $105.93 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $653.47, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 36005?

Injection for x-ray imaging procedure into vein of arm or leg. It was billed 5,608 times to 4,970 Medicare beneficiaries by 182 providers in 2024.

Does 36005 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $230.94 in an office setting and $33.22 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 36005 most?

Cardiology, with 1,194 services from 33 clinicians. Next are Diagnostic Radiology, Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, Nephrology.

CPT 36005

Injection for x-ray imaging procedure into vein of arm or leg

$134.97Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,608 services

Providers submitted

$653.47

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$134.97

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$105.93

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $653.47 for this code and Medicare allowed $134.97 — 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 $105.93 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $230.94
Hospital / facility: $33.22

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. 2,886 services were billed in an office setting and 2,722 in a facility.

Services: 5,608
Beneficiaries: 4,970
Providers billing it: 182
Total allowed: $756,912

What Medicare pays for CPT 36005

Across 5,608 services billed by 182 providers to 4,970 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $134.97 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 36005

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Cardiology	1,194	1,042	$73.52	33
Diagnostic Radiology	881	777	$221.28	16
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology	868	851	$32.22	32
Nephrology	814	700	$178.60	35
Interventional Cardiology	440	296	$110.95	11
Vascular Surgery	403	366	$144.97	21
Nuclear Medicine	378	375	$282.11	4
Interventional Radiology	243	237	$149.22	13
Internal Medicine	182	170	$163.49	8
General Surgery	117	112	$92.99	6
Peripheral Vascular Disease	62	18	$128.98	1
Cardiac Surgery	15	15	$120.40	1
Undefined Physician type	11	11	$23.50	1

36005 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	1,327	$153.60	$106.35	25
Texas	1,016	$221.46	$163.90	30
Florida	607	$126.17	$91.22	20
Michigan	315	$188.00	$143.10	12
Maryland	291	$54.19	$37.51	7
New York	259	$144.91	$95.45	11
Massachusetts	200	$40.80	$28.48	5
New Jersey	172	$40.21	$28.79	8
Arizona	163	$69.34	$54.18	5
Kansas	140	$39.57	$28.72	4
Louisiana	135	$58.29	$49.08	7
Alabama	113	$71.94	$64.22	6
South Carolina	98	$117.87	$177.56	2
Oklahoma	90	$94.26	$61.53	4
Ohio	79	$170.56	$140.23	4
New Mexico	79	$140.39	$116.78	3
Arkansas	77	$36.20	$31.03	3
Mississippi	56	$32.17	$26.89	3
Virginia	53	$116.42	$78.86	3
Georgia	50	$153.37	$114.22	2
Indiana	41	$320.31	$259.99	2
Illinois	38	$78.15	$86.75	3
Idaho	26	$41.73	$34.20	1
Pennsylvania	24	$220.02	$150.73	2
Nebraska	24	$22.20	$18.08	1
Minnesota	24	$32.57	$23.80	1
Montana	20	$41.43	$29.84	1
Wisconsin	20	$41.32	$32.67	1
West Virginia	14	$58.90	$44.63	1
Tennessee	12	$24.58	$21.13	1
Rhode Island	12	$22.84	$18.06	1
Colorado	11	$40.64	$29.67	1
Connecticut	11	$27.29	$19.73	1
Missouri	11	$42.06	$31.43	1

Related codes

36012Insertion of tube into vein$468.62
36010Insertion of tube into vena cava$215.77
36011Insertion of tube into vein$425.13

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.