How much does Medicare pay for CPT 72082?

Medicare allowed an average of $39.67 per service and paid $29.77 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $177.52, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 72082?

X-ray of entire middle and lower spine, 2-3 views. It was billed 80,398 times to 71,279 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,730 providers in 2024.

Does 72082 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $54.91 in an office setting and $15.10 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 72082 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 51,562 services from 1,185 clinicians. Next are Orthopedic Surgery, Neurosurgery, Physician Assistant.

CPT 72082

X-ray of entire middle and lower spine, 2-3 views

$39.67Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 80,398 services

Providers submitted

$177.52

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$39.67

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$29.77

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $177.52 for this code and Medicare allowed $39.67 — 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 $29.77 (75%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $54.91
Hospital / facility: $15.10

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. 49,618 services were billed in an office setting and 30,780 in a facility.

Services: 80,398
Beneficiaries: 71,279
Providers billing it: 1,730
Total allowed: $3,189,389

What Medicare pays for CPT 72082

Across 80,398 services billed by 1,730 providers to 71,279 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $39.67 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 72082

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	51,562	47,534	$27.67	1,185
Orthopedic Surgery	15,031	11,711	$64.86	269
Neurosurgery	5,402	4,516	$59.34	74
Physician Assistant	3,322	2,800	$56.48	75
Nurse Practitioner	1,372	1,262	$52.90	41
Internal Medicine	788	765	$62.96	9
Interventional Radiology	730	709	$34.67	22
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	554	456	$66.28	13
Rheumatology	286	282	$69.27	6
Portable X-Ray Supplier	272	222	$43.80	4
Pain Management	252	243	$61.36	5
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	240	232	$69.20	9
Obstetrics & Gynecology	185	185	$63.53	3
Radiation Oncology	105	80	$22.89	4
Endocrinology	68	64	$80.29	1

72082 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	11,279	$40.31	$26.88	218
New York	6,826	$41.77	$28.00	134
Texas	5,542	$49.62	$37.90	122
Illinois	5,160	$29.27	$20.97	84
Ohio	4,579	$32.47	$25.09	73
Florida	3,959	$49.96	$38.57	96
North Carolina	3,252	$45.28	$35.79	64
Virginia	3,191	$34.04	$25.34	41
Colorado	3,162	$39.77	$28.68	58
Minnesota	2,548	$56.52	$40.73	53
Massachusetts	2,392	$24.28	$16.44	59
Arizona	2,338	$39.54	$30.40	56
Tennessee	2,257	$47.94	$40.25	54
Michigan	2,052	$38.35	$28.35	58
Missouri	1,920	$20.25	$15.43	43
Washington	1,723	$36.43	$25.57	49
Maryland	1,511	$40.85	$28.74	40
Oklahoma	1,494	$40.66	$34.04	27
Pennsylvania	1,410	$21.27	$14.96	51
South Carolina	1,263	$56.02	$47.27	27
Kansas	1,044	$16.88	$12.59	12
Indiana	1,026	$52.41	$42.78	22
Rhode Island	883	$54.02	$41.72	13
Arkansas	865	$43.74	$36.61	12
Georgia	815	$52.67	$41.40	31
Louisiana	801	$41.25	$34.04	18
Kentucky	734	$40.92	$33.34	27
Connecticut	680	$50.08	$35.28	16
Wisconsin	665	$31.49	$22.40	18
Iowa	625	$20.58	$15.69	17
Utah	578	$16.96	$12.99	22
Alabama	567	$61.40	$50.11	8
Nebraska	553	$51.51	$39.38	13
New Jersey	510	$43.54	$27.83	16
Oregon	418	$23.00	$16.75	11
New Hampshire	237	$32.63	$24.21	7
Vermont	223	$14.47	$10.28	7
West Virginia	196	$14.36	$10.24	8
Hawaii	191	$30.41	$19.88	2
South Dakota	141	$31.66	$23.29	6
District of Columbia	121	$26.61	$16.39	5
Nevada	116	$67.80	$50.11	5
Mississippi	112	$29.79	$23.80	4
Montana	107	$14.79	$10.32	5
Alaska	92	$55.08	$35.95	5
Idaho	73	$23.92	$18.31	5
Maine	36	$14.38	$10.50	1
Delaware	33	$51.33	$36.61	2
AA	31	$57.23	$48.96	1
Puerto Rico	30	$70.88	$47.32	2
North Dakota	26	$14.31	$10.60	1
New Mexico	11	$14.49	$10.44	1

Related codes

72040X-ray of upper spine$23.72
72050X-ray of upper spine$35.18
72070X-ray of middle spine$20.40
72072X-ray of middle spine$19.03
72020X-ray of spine$14.55
72052X-ray of upper spine$42.79
72080X-ray of middle and lower spine$22.02
72083X-ray of entire middle and lower spine$38.30
72084X-ray of entire middle and lower spine$47.06
72081X-ray of entire middle and lower spine$28.90
72074X-ray of middle spine$26.65

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.