How much does Medicare pay for CPT 70492?

Medicare allowed an average of $150.79 per service and paid $115.67 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $815.33, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 70492?

Ct scan of soft tissue of neck before and after contrast. It was billed 6,730 times to 6,338 Medicare beneficiaries by 300 providers in 2024.

Does 70492 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $184.58 in an office setting and $73.97 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 70492 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 5,837 services from 263 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Interventional Radiology, Physician Assistant.

CPT 70492

Ct scan of soft tissue of neck before and after contrast

$150.79Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 6,730 services

Providers submitted

$815.33

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$150.79

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$115.67

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $815.33 for this code and Medicare allowed $150.79 — 5.4× 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 $115.67 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $184.58
Hospital / facility: $73.97

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. 4,674 services were billed in an office setting and 2,056 in a facility.

Services: 6,730
Beneficiaries: 6,338
Providers billing it: 300
Total allowed: $1,014,817

What Medicare pays for CPT 70492

Across 6,730 services billed by 300 providers to 6,338 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $150.79 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 70492

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	5,837	5,512	$146.44	263
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	458	437	$207.21	21
Interventional Radiology	290	253	$153.57	7
Physician Assistant	36	36	$140.86	1
Otolaryngology	29	28	$120.21	2
Radiation Oncology	25	22	$121.01	2
Nuclear Medicine	20	15	$188.12	1
Nurse Practitioner	12	12	$143.98	1
Internal Medicine	12	12	$72.48	1
Cardiology	11	11	$237.65	1

70492 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	1,429	$184.91	$130.90	48
New York	945	$171.22	$112.90	34
Florida	749	$165.72	$125.66	35
Texas	659	$166.10	$124.70	30
Massachusetts	349	$107.95	$70.95	12
Louisiana	246	$118.71	$95.43	8
Alabama	200	$86.11	$69.46	8
Arizona	186	$150.02	$116.14	11
Illinois	173	$92.79	$70.78	11
Georgia	161	$117.05	$87.10	9
Maryland	141	$173.57	$117.35	6
North Carolina	135	$134.15	$100.10	8
Nevada	104	$180.04	$132.84	7
Virginia	95	$195.89	$135.56	6
New Jersey	94	$158.03	$109.25	6
Colorado	85	$132.19	$93.21	4
Washington	78	$172.94	$128.66	3
Nebraska	76	$70.60	$55.65	4
Connecticut	71	$77.50	$54.00	5
Utah	68	$87.96	$66.37	4
Ohio	64	$71.45	$54.61	4
Missouri	62	$97.75	$79.40	5
Tennessee	61	$109.19	$88.23	4
South Carolina	57	$100.28	$77.12	4
Oklahoma	53	$70.93	$51.25	2
Arkansas	52	$71.65	$52.40	3
Pennsylvania	48	$149.40	$115.32	2
Minnesota	45	$157.64	$115.53	3
Idaho	39	$71.68	$55.75	3
Maine	33	$121.89	$85.63	1
Mississippi	32	$69.60	$57.71	1
Delaware	26	$86.33	$62.24	2
Guam	26	$227.51	$137.12	1
Montana	19	$73.85	$47.87	1
Michigan	16	$217.74	$145.82	1
Rhode Island	16	$148.57	$81.30	1
Kentucky	14	$70.93	$45.75	1
Indiana	12	$75.13	$57.33	1
South Dakota	11	$72.19	$52.02	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
70487Ct scan of face$57.47
70460Ct scan head or brain$68.11

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.