How much does Medicare pay for CPT 51785?

Medicare allowed an average of $130.39 per service and paid $102.34 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1066.28, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 51785?

Needle measurement and recording of electrical activity of muscles at bladder and bowel openings. It was billed 2,321 times to 2,294 Medicare beneficiaries by 75 providers in 2024.

Does 51785 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $413.35 in an office setting and $87.10 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 51785 most?

Neurology, with 1,515 services from 52 clinicians. Next are Urology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Obstetrics & Gynecology.

CPT 51785

Needle measurement and recording of electrical activity of muscles at bladder and bowel openings

$130.39Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 2,321 services

Providers submitted

$1066.28

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$130.39

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$102.34

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1066.28 for this code and Medicare allowed $130.39 — 8.2× 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 $102.34 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $413.35
Hospital / facility: $87.10

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. 308 services were billed in an office setting and 2,013 in a facility.

Services: 2,321
Beneficiaries: 2,294
Providers billing it: 75
Total allowed: $302,635

What Medicare pays for CPT 51785

Across 2,321 services billed by 75 providers to 2,294 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $130.39 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 51785

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Neurology	1,515	1,498	$92.13	52
Urology	337	335	$252.13	8
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	214	212	$84.34	7
Obstetrics & Gynecology	99	99	$417.84	2
Anesthesiology	45	44	$95.01	1
Undefined Physician type	43	41	$41.62	1
Audiologist	21	21	$89.41	1
Neuropsychiatry	19	16	$79.96	1
Colorectal Surgery (Proctology)	17	17	$482.99	1
Pain Management	11	11	$91.74	1

51785 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	314	$104.67	$52.01	9
Florida	240	$193.09	$125.33	5
Maryland	225	$95.70	$47.79	12
North Carolina	160	$67.36	$43.53	5
Texas	154	$171.43	$129.94	6
South Carolina	138	$313.41	$249.17	2
Nevada	131	$91.53	$38.76	3
New York	100	$286.30	$196.33	4
Massachusetts	96	$95.02	$48.08	3
Ohio	84	$88.33	$40.49	2
Georgia	79	$91.09	$44.90	3
Arizona	66	$241.68	$168.30	2
Colorado	64	$89.35	$38.12	2
Connecticut	63	$96.36	$42.04	2
Minnesota	60	$79.91	$50.77	3
Virginia	53	$85.64	$38.47	1
Louisiana	48	$80.40	$35.77	1
Utah	47	$64.62	$40.42	2
South Dakota	43	$41.62	$36.86	1
Wisconsin	37	$78.23	$48.33	2
Illinois	33	$56.83	$34.75	1
Puerto Rico	29	$79.93	$38.16	1
Kansas	26	$80.16	$37.08	1
Delaware	16	$88.71	$37.76	1
Michigan	15	$50.59	$35.89	1

Related codes

51798Ultrasound measurement of bladder capacity after voiding$11.33
51741Electronic assessment of bladder emptying$10.90
51702Simple insertion of temporary bladder tube$56.08
51700Simple bladder irrigation and/or instillation$62.89
51784Non-needle measurement and recording of electrical activity of muscles$32.26
51701Insertion of temporary bladder tube$41.58
51797Insertion of device into abdomen$155.21
51720Instillation of anti-cancer drug into bladder$79.02
51728Complex measurement of pressure of urine flow in bladder$308.93
51705Simple change of bladder tube$86.83
51729Complex measurement of pressure of urine flow in bladder$338.91
51703Complicated insertion of bladder tube$133.52

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.