How much does Medicare pay for CPT 49440?

Medicare allowed an average of $197.64 per service and paid $156.49 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1978.14, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 49440?

Insertion of stomach tube using fluoroscopic guidance with contrast. It was billed 5,449 times to 5,403 Medicare beneficiaries by 362 providers in 2024.

Does 49440 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $723.73 in an office setting and $195.99 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 49440 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 3,001 services from 200 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Ambulatory Surgical Center, Internal Medicine.

CPT 49440

Insertion of stomach tube using fluoroscopic guidance with contrast

$197.64Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,449 services

Providers submitted

$1978.14

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$197.64

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$156.49

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1978.14 for this code and Medicare allowed $197.64 — 10.0× 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 $156.49 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $723.73
Hospital / facility: $195.99

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. 17 services were billed in an office setting and 5,432 in a facility.

Services: 5,449
Beneficiaries: 5,403
Providers billing it: 362
Total allowed: $1,076,940

What Medicare pays for CPT 49440

Across 5,449 services billed by 362 providers to 5,403 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $197.64 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 49440

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	3,001	2,977	$197.18	200
Interventional Radiology	2,328	2,310	$191.84	153
Ambulatory Surgical Center	35	31	$684.43	2
Internal Medicine	27	27	$189.56	2
Pulmonary Disease	13	13	$100.23	1
Undefined Physician type	12	12	$189.17	1
Vascular Surgery	11	11	$188.52	1
General Practice	11	11	$192.86	1
Physician Assistant	11	11	$159.74	1

49440 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	866	$205.02	$150.94	57
Florida	692	$194.80	$150.25	44
Texas	478	$209.00	$167.25	30
Illinois	248	$199.23	$150.93	17
Indiana	202	$179.46	$150.11	14
Arizona	176	$238.84	$194.01	12
Maryland	172	$199.35	$152.43	11
Pennsylvania	159	$193.57	$152.86	11
Tennessee	153	$180.45	$152.05	9
Washington	150	$196.07	$150.89	12
Georgia	146	$194.94	$149.41	10
Minnesota	134	$189.56	$149.86	10
North Carolina	123	$184.08	$152.88	9
New York	118	$203.99	$148.92	8
Nebraska	117	$169.85	$149.08	7
Virginia	108	$191.72	$151.24	8
Kansas	105	$180.19	$154.27	5
Iowa	99	$173.65	$143.28	6
Wisconsin	98	$188.32	$153.26	7
Mississippi	94	$181.69	$150.26	6
Connecticut	86	$203.41	$153.54	5
New Jersey	78	$198.16	$146.50	5
Missouri	77	$185.86	$149.36	6
Massachusetts	73	$206.28	$147.93	4
Michigan	72	$192.93	$153.09	6
Louisiana	66	$184.86	$151.65	4
Colorado	60	$194.75	$149.18	3
Delaware	58	$189.59	$153.67	4
South Carolina	58	$181.63	$141.16	4
Idaho	47	$183.74	$148.00	4
Arkansas	43	$340.64	$294.20	2
Ohio	37	$191.27	$154.15	3
District of Columbia	31	$207.46	$154.27	2
Oklahoma	26	$182.11	$151.50	2
South Dakota	24	$179.79	$137.42	2
West Virginia	23	$193.84	$148.35	2
Kentucky	22	$173.54	$143.86	2
North Dakota	22	$188.52	$154.76	2
Vermont	22	$229.24	$154.41	1
New Hampshire	15	$174.43	$138.78	1
Alaska	15	$257.21	$153.58	1
Hawaii	15	$186.28	$156.96	1
Alabama	14	$196.92	$154.40	1
Utah	14	$189.20	$151.29	1
Nevada	13	$193.26	$154.77	1

Related codes

49406Drainage of fluid collection of abdominal cavity by tube$178.72
49450Replacement of stomach or large bowel tube$270.04
49424Injection of contrast through abdominal cavity tube for x-ray study$32.06
49452Replacement of stomach-to-small bowel tube$126.41
49465Contrast injection for x-ray imaging through existing tube in stomach$30.29
49422Removal of abdominal cavity tube$332.37

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.