How much does Medicare pay for CPT 72129?

Medicare allowed an average of $55.34 per service and paid $43.06 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $343.32, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 72129?

Ct scan of middle spine with contrast. It was billed 26,767 times to 26,617 Medicare beneficiaries by 958 providers in 2024.

Does 72129 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $141.89 in an office setting and $54.51 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 72129 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 25,873 services from 918 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Neurosurgery, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF).

CPT 72129

Ct scan of middle spine with contrast

$55.34Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 26,767 services

Providers submitted

$343.32

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$55.34

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$43.06

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $343.32 for this code and Medicare allowed $55.34 — 6.2× 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 $43.06 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $141.89
Hospital / facility: $54.51

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. 254 services were billed in an office setting and 26,513 in a facility.

Services: 26,767
Beneficiaries: 26,617
Providers billing it: 958
Total allowed: $1,481,286

What Medicare pays for CPT 72129

Across 26,767 services billed by 958 providers to 26,617 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $55.34 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 72129

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	25,873	25,727	$55.06	918
Interventional Radiology	589	586	$54.10	27
Neurosurgery	64	64	$62.63	2
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	64	63	$173.56	2
Nuclear Medicine	50	50	$56.15	3
Internal Medicine	49	49	$54.49	2
Family Practice	35	35	$52.37	1
Interventional Pain Management	15	15	$56.33	1
Vascular Surgery	14	14	$52.78	1
Radiation Oncology	14	14	$51.38	1

72129 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
Pennsylvania	2,720	$53.98	$40.50	58
Massachusetts	2,643	$56.80	$40.95	61
Tennessee	2,467	$54.97	$42.37	79
Michigan	1,535	$54.31	$40.25	67
Texas	1,487	$62.37	$48.02	73
California	1,467	$57.94	$39.98	68
Arizona	1,395	$52.95	$41.01	35
Virginia	1,393	$54.72	$40.95	56
Oklahoma	1,325	$51.28	$40.94	43
New York	1,193	$57.47	$40.92	47
North Carolina	1,110	$52.50	$39.64	49
Maryland	871	$55.95	$40.34	29
Florida	759	$53.87	$40.51	32
Missouri	730	$53.66	$40.80	30
New Jersey	685	$58.48	$40.87	30
Ohio	519	$54.09	$40.47	25
Minnesota	453	$58.46	$43.78	16
Illinois	452	$55.12	$40.41	18
Alabama	441	$52.00	$40.80	20
Connecticut	441	$55.82	$40.62	22
Colorado	337	$55.56	$40.37	17
Kentucky	258	$53.93	$40.97	10
Washington	235	$55.86	$40.24	6
Georgia	203	$54.06	$40.42	9
Nebraska	197	$50.68	$39.67	10
Indiana	192	$62.91	$49.45	4
District of Columbia	168	$54.88	$40.98	4
New Mexico	152	$55.60	$40.46	2
Louisiana	147	$54.59	$40.91	4
West Virginia	147	$53.40	$38.91	5
South Carolina	141	$51.97	$39.83	6
Hawaii	101	$53.90	$40.84	5
Delaware	86	$54.24	$40.43	1
Wisconsin	50	$51.99	$38.79	3
AA	50	$53.46	$41.28	1
Rhode Island	47	$54.91	$41.39	3
Montana	27	$53.24	$39.83	2
Kansas	25	$52.43	$42.65	1
Mississippi	24	$53.57	$43.34	2
New Hampshire	24	$53.74	$41.39	1
Oregon	22	$52.64	$41.22	1
Nevada	21	$60.76	$41.31	1
Puerto Rico	15	$54.27	$35.84	1
Arkansas	12	$50.66	$37.90	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.