How much does Medicare pay for CPT 43254?

Medicare allowed an average of $261.78 per service and paid $203.08 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1188.50, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 43254?

Removal of tissue lining of esophagus, stomach, and/or upper small bowel using a flexible endoscope. It was billed 1,788 times to 1,640 Medicare beneficiaries by 97 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 43254 most?

Gastroenterology, with 1,669 services from 90 clinicians. Next are Internal Medicine, Thoracic Surgery, Ambulatory Surgical Center.

CPT 43254

Removal of tissue lining of esophagus, stomach, and/or upper small bowel using a flexible endoscope

$261.78Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 1,788 services

Providers submitted

$1188.50

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$261.78

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$203.08

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1188.50 for this code and Medicare allowed $261.78 — 4.5× 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 $203.08 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 1,788
Beneficiaries: 1,640
Providers billing it: 97
Total allowed: $468,063

What Medicare pays for CPT 43254

Across 1,788 services billed by 97 providers to 1,640 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $261.78 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 43254

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Gastroenterology	1,669	1,526	$260.22	90
Internal Medicine	90	86	$251.40	5
Thoracic Surgery	15	14	$259.93	1
Ambulatory Surgical Center	14	14	$516.18	1

43254 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	222	$278.20	$199.27	13
Florida	173	$286.22	$212.00	8
Massachusetts	159	$271.69	$195.63	7
Illinois	112	$280.00	$192.49	6
Virginia	98	$255.45	$191.61	6
South Carolina	88	$242.89	$191.87	4
Texas	85	$254.59	$200.44	5
Maryland	82	$260.15	$194.18	4
Missouri	79	$243.03	$198.87	4
Minnesota	79	$258.75	$202.67	4
Arizona	77	$244.65	$195.33	4
Pennsylvania	69	$247.31	$190.66	4
Ohio	49	$251.64	$202.90	3
New Jersey	45	$270.77	$191.73	3
Nebraska	41	$239.18	$195.46	2
Arkansas	40	$236.40	$204.45	2
New York	31	$304.56	$197.48	2
Michigan	30	$257.42	$182.48	2
Kentucky	29	$236.13	$185.68	1
Tennessee	25	$241.47	$191.34	2
Iowa	24	$242.91	$184.51	1
North Dakota	19	$238.16	$190.72	1
Washington	18	$282.22	$187.68	1
Colorado	17	$265.38	$206.87	1
Indiana	16	$228.10	$187.75	1
Louisiana	16	$241.64	$177.63	1
Connecticut	14	$255.58	$192.17	1
Mississippi	14	$243.05	$206.75	1
Kansas	13	$237.69	$167.20	1
North Carolina	12	$247.03	$207.64	1
South Dakota	12	$247.76	$206.06	1

Related codes

43239Biopsy of esophagus$167.49
43235Diagnostic exam of esophagus$145.31
43249Balloon dilation of esophagus$337.40
43248Insertion of guide wire$223.15
43264Removal of stone or debris from bile or pancreatic duct$135.60
43251Removal of polyps or growths of esophagus$419.64
43274Insertion of stent into pancreatic or bile duct$392.61
43259Ultrasound exam of esophagus$230.50
43242Ultrasound guided needle aspiration or biopsy of esophagus$249.98
43255Control of bleeding of esophagus$200.78
43237Ultrasound exam of esophagus$204.08
43246Insertion of stomach tube$194.27

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.