How much does Medicare pay for CPT 72114?

Medicare allowed an average of $43.06 per service and paid $31.84 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $188.91, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 72114?

X-ray lower and sacral spine, minimum of 6 views. It was billed 54,149 times to 52,187 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,586 providers in 2024.

Does 72114 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $51.16 in an office setting and $14.16 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 72114 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 28,884 services from 1,033 clinicians. Next are Orthopedic Surgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF).

CPT 72114

X-ray lower and sacral spine, minimum of 6 views

$43.06Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 54,149 services

Providers submitted

$188.91

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$43.06

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$31.84

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $188.91 for this code and Medicare allowed $43.06 — 4.4× 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 $31.84 (74%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $51.16
Hospital / facility: $14.16

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. 42,285 services were billed in an office setting and 11,864 in a facility.

Services: 54,149
Beneficiaries: 52,187
Providers billing it: 1,586
Total allowed: $2,331,656

What Medicare pays for CPT 72114

Across 54,149 services billed by 1,586 providers to 52,187 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $43.06 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 72114

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	28,884	28,092	$33.86	1,033
Orthopedic Surgery	8,337	7,785	$57.47	129
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	3,207	3,153	$57.86	56
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	2,979	2,924	$56.69	92
Physician Assistant	2,734	2,703	$47.68	64
Nurse Practitioner	1,461	1,447	$41.18	31
Neurosurgery	1,399	1,153	$52.31	31
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine	868	801	$57.58	3
Pain Management	739	688	$55.79	14
Interventional Radiology	709	667	$26.43	29
Interventional Pain Management	581	576	$60.27	16
Family Practice	539	528	$51.22	25
Anesthesiology	535	528	$55.74	9
Internal Medicine	369	344	$47.94	17
Emergency Medicine	320	320	$28.20	16

72114 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	7,204	$49.83	$37.45	164
Texas	6,058	$41.64	$31.62	156
California	4,106	$55.86	$35.89	143
Virginia	3,157	$48.34	$36.11	55
Arizona	2,691	$49.89	$37.08	82
New York	2,466	$46.28	$30.70	86
New Jersey	2,432	$53.45	$37.12	97
Ohio	2,239	$22.06	$16.53	60
Maryland	2,157	$44.46	$30.10	55
Pennsylvania	1,958	$31.88	$22.28	92
Illinois	1,917	$38.30	$29.25	45
Louisiana	1,741	$39.19	$32.48	40
North Carolina	1,530	$35.60	$28.35	51
Michigan	1,465	$37.80	$28.64	39
Georgia	1,393	$36.12	$28.87	43
New Mexico	1,104	$34.88	$26.08	23
Massachusetts	771	$34.66	$23.53	14
Washington	761	$40.36	$27.97	35
Kentucky	761	$39.11	$31.21	25
Missouri	690	$32.11	$25.08	21
Colorado	687	$53.81	$38.44	23
Tennessee	686	$32.92	$26.66	25
Kansas	671	$40.41	$30.66	19
Indiana	574	$32.48	$27.06	17
Mississippi	386	$47.31	$38.91	7
Connecticut	367	$59.99	$41.99	10
South Carolina	355	$26.89	$19.45	12
West Virginia	339	$13.83	$9.62	17
Minnesota	337	$26.70	$18.92	15
Wisconsin	325	$32.92	$26.59	11
Nevada	319	$54.48	$40.90	7
Hawaii	310	$40.20	$25.80	7
South Dakota	302	$38.48	$27.83	11
Alabama	262	$34.63	$29.85	13
Delaware	212	$51.01	$36.55	9
Arkansas	209	$35.67	$30.89	7
Wyoming	191	$53.29	$36.57	6
New Hampshire	159	$51.92	$37.38	6
Rhode Island	156	$61.39	$44.85	2
Iowa	87	$37.71	$29.77	5
Oregon	79	$39.28	$29.51	5
Utah	68	$56.81	$45.04	2
Montana	67	$14.27	$10.61	2
Oklahoma	63	$27.00	$22.65	5
Idaho	61	$43.43	$34.55	3
Nebraska	60	$40.88	$35.34	4
District of Columbia	58	$52.86	$30.46	3
Maine	52	$33.17	$26.05	2
Puerto Rico	35	$14.08	$10.32	1
AA	34	$30.40	$23.88	1
Alaska	25	$68.53	$39.54	2
Vermont	12	$13.71	$7.29	1

Related codes

72125Ct scan of upper spine without contrast$46.99
72100X-ray of lower and sacral spine$23.76
72148Mri scan of lower spinal canal without contrast$116.92
72110X-ray of lower and sacral spine$34.78
72170X-ray of pelvis$13.01
72141Mri scan of upper spinal canal without contrast$108.96
72131Ct scan of lower spine without contrast$53.06
72197Mri scan of pelvis before and after contrast$191.31
72146Mri scan of middle spinal canal without contrast$99.42
72128Ct scan of middle spine without contrast$46.63
72158Mri scan of lower spinal canal before and after contrast$149.73
72192Ct scan of pelvis without contrast$53.35

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.