How much does Medicare pay for CPT 36476?

Medicare allowed an average of $268.55 per service and paid $214.22 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1310.77, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 36476?

Destruction of subsequent incompetent veins of arm or leg using radiofrequency and imaging guidance. It was billed 1,956 times to 1,387 Medicare beneficiaries by 65 providers in 2024.

Does 36476 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $279.85 in an office setting and $129.49 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 36476 most?

Vascular Surgery, with 795 services from 22 clinicians. Next are General Surgery, General Practice, Interventional Radiology.

CPT 36476

Destruction of subsequent incompetent veins of arm or leg using radiofrequency and imaging guidance

$268.55Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 1,956 services

Providers submitted

$1310.77

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$268.55

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$214.22

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1310.77 for this code and Medicare allowed $268.55 — 4.9× 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 $214.22 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $279.85
Hospital / facility: $129.49

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. 1,809 services were billed in an office setting and 147 in a facility.

Services: 1,956
Beneficiaries: 1,387
Providers billing it: 65
Total allowed: $525,284

What Medicare pays for CPT 36476

Across 1,956 services billed by 65 providers to 1,387 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $268.55 per service. That is 1.4 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 36476

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Vascular Surgery	795	520	$289.44	22
General Surgery	423	314	$251.08	15
General Practice	134	102	$299.20	2
Interventional Radiology	128	93	$199.47	5
Diagnostic Radiology	103	82	$230.31	5
Cardiology	103	54	$296.94	2
Internal Medicine	52	43	$261.56	3
Family Practice	49	43	$261.12	3
Peripheral Vascular Disease	45	31	$216.29	2
Interventional Cardiology	42	38	$282.02	2
Emergency Medicine	31	25	$255.06	1
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	24	18	$265.01	1
Pain Management	14	12	$256.68	1
Thoracic Surgery	13	12	$246.68	1

36476 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	444	$275.19	$193.42	7
Florida	299	$280.78	$217.09	9
Texas	238	$258.47	$209.44	11
Tennessee	156	$245.64	$217.58	4
New Jersey	105	$310.24	$217.79	4
Georgia	98	$262.82	$218.11	5
Maryland	94	$288.26	$218.65	1
New York	82	$324.75	$217.56	2
Ohio	40	$210.05	$165.27	2
Nebraska	40	$242.98	$218.74	2
Oklahoma	38	$167.22	$157.77	2
Wyoming	35	$271.09	$217.40	1
Pennsylvania	31	$257.79	$217.22	1
Minnesota	28	$264.56	$217.66	1
Louisiana	27	$254.76	$219.40	2
Idaho	26	$248.34	$217.09	2
Montana	25	$271.94	$217.06	1
Virginia	25	$243.83	$217.06	1
Arizona	23	$246.44	$216.98	1
Arkansas	22	$235.10	$216.78	1
North Carolina	19	$262.29	$216.60	1
South Carolina	18	$240.15	$219.95	1
South Dakota	17	$261.57	$216.45	1
Washington	14	$277.23	$217.91	1
Massachusetts	12	$265.61	$216.43	1

Related codes

36415Insertion of needle into vein for collection of blood sample$8.49
36465Injection of chemical agent into single incompetent vein of leg$1256.40
36410Insertion of needle into vein (3 years or older)$16.89
36471Injection of chemical agent into multiple incompetent veins of leg$187.64
36475Destruction of first incompetent vein of arm or leg$1015.19
36482Chemical destruction of first incompetent vein of arm or leg$1603.82
36478Laser destruction of incompetent vein of arm or leg$907.22
36466Injection of chemical agent into multiple incompetent veins of same le$1330.00
36470Injection of chemical agent into single incompetent vein$103.15
36430Transfusion of blood or blood products$42.77
36479Laser destruction of incompetent veins of arm or leg$285.92

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.