How much does Medicare pay for CPT 37233?

Medicare allowed an average of $1004.57 per service and paid $800.64 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $3223.13, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 37233?

Removal of plaque in artery of leg, each additional vessel. It was billed 3,736 times to 2,572 Medicare beneficiaries by 98 providers in 2024.

Does 37233 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $1047.34 in an office setting and $307.69 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 37233 most?

Vascular Surgery, with 814 services from 27 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Cardiology, Diagnostic Radiology.

CPT 37233

Removal of plaque in artery of leg, each additional vessel

$1004.57Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 3,736 services

Providers submitted

$3223.13

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$1004.57

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$800.64

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $3223.13 for this code and Medicare allowed $1004.57 — 3.2× 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 $800.64 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $1047.34
Hospital / facility: $307.69

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. 3,520 services were billed in an office setting and 216 in a facility.

Services: 3,736
Beneficiaries: 2,572
Providers billing it: 98
Total allowed: $3,753,074

What Medicare pays for CPT 37233

Across 3,736 services billed by 98 providers to 2,572 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $1004.57 per service. That is 1.5 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 37233

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Vascular Surgery	814	602	$942.67	27
Interventional Radiology	672	492	$1042.05	17
Cardiology	641	446	$1006.75	18
Diagnostic Radiology	536	368	$1102.51	13
Interventional Cardiology	415	252	$973.79	7
General Surgery	223	113	$863.83	5
Peripheral Vascular Disease	149	111	$1094.01	2
Thoracic Surgery	77	64	$1052.05	3
Undefined Physician type	75	27	$1291.82	1
Cardiac Surgery	55	30	$900.32	1
Nephrology	30	21	$727.37	1
Internal Medicine	24	22	$1054.24	1
Physician Assistant	13	13	$182.62	1
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology	12	11	$1045.56	1

37233 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	1,072	$1000.39	$714.64	26
Florida	668	$1020.42	$793.44	16
Texas	345	$956.86	$785.62	10
New Jersey	320	$1073.40	$749.99	8
New York	232	$1147.88	$806.72	7
Oklahoma	213	$885.27	$776.92	3
Illinois	136	$972.55	$806.95	3
Tennessee	127	$912.42	$806.99	3
Michigan	127	$1035.52	$796.79	3
Maryland	69	$1145.34	$799.11	4
Arizona	65	$988.21	$807.25	1
Delaware	52	$1102.34	$804.96	1
Utah	51	$955.53	$806.69	2
Arkansas	39	$886.35	$806.57	1
Nevada	38	$975.49	$804.07	2
South Dakota	37	$987.37	$806.78	1
South Carolina	34	$936.07	$804.23	1
Kansas	32	$921.97	$806.40	1
Kentucky	19	$915.30	$806.50	1
Mississippi	18	$847.01	$807.81	1
Louisiana	17	$913.06	$820.40	1
Massachusetts	13	$980.75	$801.15	1
Indiana	12	$931.86	$808.19	1

Related codes

37253Ultrasound evaluation of blood vessel$158.74
37252Ultrasound evaluation of blood vessel$758.72
37229Removal of plaque in artery of leg$7260.85
37225Removal of plaque in arteries of leg$5516.77
37243Occlusion of growths or obstructed vessels$4293.10
37227Removal of plaque and insertion of stents in arteries of leg$9119.72
37228Balloon dilation of artery of leg$1158.26
37224Balloon dilation of artery of leg$562.15
37242Occlusion of artery$4565.89
37215Insertion of stent and blood clot protection device in neck artery$885.92
37248Balloon dilation of vein$1242.61
37238Insertion of stent in vein$2975.98

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.