How much does Medicare pay for CPT 38900?

Medicare allowed an average of $138.96 per service and paid $111.01 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $540.14, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 38900?

Imaging of lymph nodes during surgery. It was billed 32,477 times to 32,362 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,557 providers in 2024.

Does 38900 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $143.78 in an office setting and $138.79 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 38900 most?

General Surgery, with 18,750 services from 879 clinicians. Next are Surgical Oncology, Gynecological Oncology, Obstetrics & Gynecology.

CPT 38900

Imaging of lymph nodes during surgery

$138.96Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 32,477 services

Providers submitted

$540.14

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$138.96

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$111.01

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $540.14 for this code and Medicare allowed $138.96 — 3.9× 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 $111.01 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $143.78
Hospital / facility: $138.79

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. 1,089 services were billed in an office setting and 31,388 in a facility.

Services: 32,477
Beneficiaries: 32,362
Providers billing it: 1,557
Total allowed: $4,513,004

What Medicare pays for CPT 38900

Across 32,477 services billed by 1,557 providers to 32,362 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $138.96 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 38900

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
General Surgery	18,750	18,681	$136.32	879
Surgical Oncology	7,969	7,931	$137.36	346
Gynecological Oncology	3,258	3,255	$177.29	196
Obstetrics & Gynecology	936	934	$167.53	60
Physician Assistant	641	640	$22.96	32
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	397	395	$134.82	17
Nurse Practitioner	129	129	$24.20	7
General Practice	118	118	$148.39	5
Otolaryngology	71	71	$140.76	4
Hematology-Oncology	56	56	$134.44	3
Colorectal Surgery (Proctology)	46	46	$139.21	2
Undefined Physician type	26	26	$130.11	1
Internal Medicine	25	25	$120.95	1
Medical Oncology	15	15	$192.28	1
Hand Surgery	14	14	$125.87	1

38900 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	3,424	$139.27	$108.21	161
Florida	2,898	$148.00	$108.88	124
Texas	2,443	$137.25	$110.54	112
New York	1,452	$161.08	$113.24	83
Illinois	1,452	$154.58	$110.46	73
Pennsylvania	1,419	$140.61	$111.81	70
Virginia	1,245	$137.68	$110.26	56
Arizona	1,102	$134.72	$111.17	42
North Carolina	1,069	$125.33	$107.19	49
Maryland	996	$145.65	$109.55	40
Ohio	993	$137.52	$111.32	51
Georgia	925	$139.20	$111.43	47
Massachusetts	904	$140.70	$109.71	49
Tennessee	833	$129.90	$113.16	43
Washington	798	$141.70	$112.78	40
Missouri	775	$134.85	$111.12	35
Indiana	671	$127.77	$112.40	31
South Carolina	576	$133.50	$109.96	27
Oklahoma	567	$130.58	$110.68	19
Michigan	534	$146.03	$108.89	28
New Jersey	509	$150.11	$109.18	31
Wisconsin	491	$118.28	$105.36	29
Minnesota	449	$131.44	$114.17	26
Louisiana	449	$137.42	$111.35	21
Kansas	425	$129.58	$112.65	19
Colorado	399	$134.78	$109.35	24
Iowa	364	$127.50	$121.58	17
Arkansas	359	$114.35	$102.45	14
Kentucky	318	$137.06	$112.96	17
Oregon	315	$124.09	$102.69	18
Alabama	311	$130.65	$113.83	17
Utah	277	$131.10	$108.69	11
Mississippi	275	$126.02	$106.98	11
Nebraska	268	$104.99	$93.55	12
Connecticut	250	$157.07	$118.72	15
Idaho	223	$120.36	$103.35	12
New Hampshire	220	$144.21	$115.62	11
District of Columbia	200	$155.35	$112.34	6
Nevada	176	$132.49	$108.00	6
Montana	156	$142.98	$114.07	9
Maine	148	$137.35	$113.31	7
Delaware	138	$137.84	$111.36	7
South Dakota	119	$109.33	$95.57	3
Hawaii	95	$148.35	$121.18	6
North Dakota	92	$123.95	$106.78	4
West Virginia	89	$157.58	$121.02	5
Vermont	84	$127.13	$109.05	5
Rhode Island	82	$164.78	$125.92	6
New Mexico	60	$135.55	$107.65	4
Alaska	49	$165.09	$109.58	3
Wyoming	11	$128.73	$106.58	1

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.