How much does Medicare pay for CPT 36561?

Medicare allowed an average of $398.30 per service and paid $315.66 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $2892.74, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 36561?

Insertion of central venous tube with port (5 years or older). It was billed 71,391 times to 71,068 Medicare beneficiaries by 3,308 providers in 2024.

Does 36561 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $767.22 in an office setting and $362.40 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 36561 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 25,077 services from 1,177 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, General Surgery, Physician Assistant.

CPT 36561

Insertion of central venous tube with port (5 years or older)

$398.30Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 71,391 services

Providers submitted

$2892.74

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$398.30

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$315.66

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $2892.74 for this code and Medicare allowed $398.30 — 7.3× 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 $315.66 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $767.22
Hospital / facility: $362.40

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. 6,330 services were billed in an office setting and 65,061 in a facility.

Services: 71,391
Beneficiaries: 71,068
Providers billing it: 3,308
Total allowed: $28,435,035

What Medicare pays for CPT 36561

Across 71,391 services billed by 3,308 providers to 71,068 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $398.30 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 36561

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	25,077	25,018	$367.91	1,177
Interventional Radiology	16,752	16,689	$389.12	730
General Surgery	11,674	11,571	$307.99	673
Physician Assistant	7,727	7,704	$287.18	284
Ambulatory Surgical Center	2,937	2,920	$1467.84	106
Surgical Oncology	2,193	2,181	$298.64	100
Vascular Surgery	1,898	1,876	$437.44	89
Nurse Practitioner	1,591	1,585	$365.85	64
Thoracic Surgery	688	684	$308.99	32
Colorectal Surgery (Proctology)	215	209	$304.00	13
Gynecological Oncology	89	88	$304.80	6
Internal Medicine	84	83	$573.37	5
General Practice	64	62	$299.88	5
Interventional Cardiology	55	55	$310.78	3
Pulmonary Disease	49	45	$274.31	3

36561 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	6,406	$450.32	$324.31	268
Texas	4,759	$441.56	$361.75	214
Florida	4,743	$384.46	$297.38	223
Illinois	3,705	$386.40	$293.60	163
Pennsylvania	3,520	$338.59	$265.64	173
New York	3,299	$428.68	$305.42	151
Virginia	2,568	$421.01	$333.20	114
Ohio	2,242	$342.63	$278.84	111
North Carolina	2,173	$380.19	$316.67	112
Massachusetts	2,077	$390.41	$290.15	84
Arizona	2,018	$348.45	$281.38	87
New Jersey	1,939	$380.92	$281.85	83
Georgia	1,868	$392.66	$314.39	87
Maryland	1,789	$466.35	$351.97	79
Washington	1,773	$393.41	$304.89	85
Missouri	1,759	$319.52	$261.65	86
Tennessee	1,711	$452.79	$396.43	80
Michigan	1,664	$335.68	$260.53	89
Indiana	1,591	$390.98	$328.61	84
Kansas	1,533	$413.77	$351.20	58
South Carolina	1,371	$358.54	$298.81	71
Wisconsin	1,215	$292.50	$246.91	66
Minnesota	1,212	$375.47	$301.77	61
Oklahoma	1,183	$346.46	$294.54	60
Nebraska	1,102	$590.15	$495.23	43
Oregon	987	$506.91	$393.22	53
Kentucky	982	$319.79	$261.43	49
Arkansas	951	$558.03	$489.77	37
Iowa	913	$327.21	$281.97	37
Colorado	885	$327.31	$257.75	44
Mississippi	802	$498.70	$442.38	37
Louisiana	640	$340.56	$286.54	31
Alabama	568	$424.89	$381.41	33
New Hampshire	535	$299.69	$235.89	24
Connecticut	499	$393.25	$284.44	21
Idaho	453	$284.72	$243.04	22
Utah	408	$391.94	$320.11	21
South Dakota	400	$302.23	$244.65	16
West Virginia	336	$315.25	$247.39	15
North Dakota	310	$300.94	$246.60	13
Nevada	309	$602.05	$484.62	15
New Mexico	300	$470.96	$383.25	13
Alaska	291	$864.04	$522.64	11
Montana	287	$317.42	$251.79	14
Rhode Island	282	$406.75	$310.19	16
Vermont	272	$291.82	$232.58	9
Delaware	257	$308.81	$247.22	13
District of Columbia	235	$388.90	$288.33	13
Hawaii	90	$313.87	$251.10	6
Maine	87	$385.69	$307.54	6
Wyoming	80	$269.06	$209.43	6
Guam	12	$320.79	$251.38	1

Related codes

36556Insertion of non-tunneled central venous tube for infusion (5 years or$81.86
36558Insertion of tunneled central venous tube for infusion (5 years or old$285.71
36591Collection of blood sample from implanted device$27.38
36589Removal of tunneled central venous tube$161.38
36573Insertion of tube for infusion$94.78
36581Replacement of tunneled central venous tube$744.12
36590Removal of central venous tube$196.77
36514Mechanical separation of plasma from blood$92.43
36593Declotting of central venous tube$38.30
36569Insertion of tube for infusion (5 years or older)$91.24
36500Insertion of tube into vein$91.52
36522Mechanical separation of white blood cells and platelets from blood$90.95

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.