How much does Medicare pay for CPT 70460?

Medicare allowed an average of $68.11 per service and paid $52.47 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $393.50, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 70460?

Ct scan head or brain with contrast. It was billed 2,930 times to 2,750 Medicare beneficiaries by 143 providers in 2024.

Does 70460 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $99.80 in an office setting and $50.96 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 70460 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 2,522 services from 126 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Neurosurgery, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF).

CPT 70460

Ct scan head or brain with contrast

$68.11Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 2,930 services

Providers submitted

$393.50

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$68.11

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$52.47

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $393.50 for this code and Medicare allowed $68.11 — 5.8× 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 $52.47 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $99.80
Hospital / facility: $50.96

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. 1,029 services were billed in an office setting and 1,901 in a facility.

Services: 2,930
Beneficiaries: 2,750
Providers billing it: 143
Total allowed: $199,562

What Medicare pays for CPT 70460

Across 2,930 services billed by 143 providers to 2,750 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $68.11 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 70460

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	2,522	2,367	$66.88	126
Interventional Radiology	161	154	$63.99	6
Neurosurgery	68	67	$56.88	3
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	51	47	$120.83	2
Neurology	43	41	$56.79	3
Cardiology	39	39	$115.89	1
Undefined Physician type	34	23	$78.57	1
Physician Assistant	12	12	$77.45	1

70460 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
Florida	308	$54.37	$40.87	13
New York	288	$101.37	$65.63	13
Arkansas	279	$75.44	$62.77	10
California	249	$66.90	$47.40	12
Illinois	211	$51.63	$38.03	5
Texas	187	$87.89	$70.85	12
Louisiana	152	$48.53	$37.48	3
Missouri	125	$49.89	$38.62	8
Virginia	105	$60.95	$46.58	7
Arizona	102	$88.35	$66.50	7
District of Columbia	100	$54.82	$39.30	7
Massachusetts	91	$60.29	$41.10	5
Tennessee	87	$67.19	$59.04	4
Michigan	78	$71.15	$48.54	3
Colorado	73	$59.98	$41.52	4
Nevada	63	$72.63	$57.41	3
New Jersey	57	$69.91	$50.37	3
North Carolina	51	$103.09	$80.96	2
Utah	38	$49.46	$37.33	2
Vermont	33	$49.62	$37.92	2
Maryland	31	$101.37	$80.81	2
Pennsylvania	30	$50.92	$36.13	2
Alabama	28	$50.69	$33.85	2
Nebraska	28	$50.06	$37.02	2
New Hampshire	27	$51.02	$38.76	2
Oklahoma	24	$51.48	$38.85	2
Delaware	23	$52.35	$33.73	1
Connecticut	22	$99.38	$68.94	2
Indiana	17	$47.61	$38.23	1
Wyoming	12	$49.50	$38.63	1
Ohio	11	$53.42	$40.19	1

Related codes

70450Ct scan head or brain without contrast$40.22
70498Ct scan of blood vessels of neck$80.79
70496Ct scan of blood vessels of head$84.13
70486Ct scan of face without contrast$61.51
70491Ct scan of soft tissue of neck$81.73
70480Ct scan of cranial cavity without contrast$109.74
70470Ct scan of head or brain before and after contrast$83.98
70490Ct scan of soft tissue of neck without contrast$78.66
70492Ct scan of soft tissue of neck before and after contrast$150.79
70487Ct scan of face$57.47

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.