How much does Medicare pay for CPT 72132?

Medicare allowed an average of $57.32 per service and paid $44.58 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $359.96, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 72132?

Ct scan of lower spine with contrast. It was billed 37,481 times to 37,266 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,456 providers in 2024.

Does 72132 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $135.92 in an office setting and $53.93 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 72132 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 35,995 services from 1,395 clinicians. Next are Interventional Radiology, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Nuclear Medicine.

CPT 72132

Ct scan of lower spine with contrast

$57.32Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 37,481 services

Providers submitted

$359.96

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$57.32

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$44.58

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $359.96 for this code and Medicare allowed $57.32 — 6.3× 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 $44.58 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $135.92
Hospital / facility: $53.93

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. 1,549 services were billed in an office setting and 35,932 in a facility.

Services: 37,481
Beneficiaries: 37,266
Providers billing it: 1,456
Total allowed: $2,148,411

What Medicare pays for CPT 72132

Across 37,481 services billed by 1,456 providers to 37,266 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $57.32 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 72132

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	35,995	35,788	$56.22	1,395
Interventional Radiology	765	763	$53.96	32
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	481	475	$137.19	17
Nuclear Medicine	55	55	$55.29	3
Neurosurgery	52	52	$144.85	3
Internal Medicine	50	50	$54.17	2
Family Practice	35	35	$51.63	1
Interventional Pain Management	20	20	$54.68	1
Vascular Surgery	14	14	$52.48	1
Radiation Oncology	14	14	$51.21	1

72132 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	3,143	$53.30	$40.60	75
Texas	2,903	$67.76	$52.55	131
Tennessee	2,821	$57.70	$45.20	91
Massachusetts	2,807	$56.37	$40.96	69
Michigan	2,202	$54.14	$40.97	94
Virginia	2,015	$55.84	$42.18	76
California	1,970	$60.11	$41.92	85
New York	1,697	$61.04	$43.90	71
North Carolina	1,690	$58.13	$45.10	75
Arizona	1,608	$55.13	$42.85	45
Oklahoma	1,574	$52.35	$41.99	52
Florida	1,365	$57.12	$42.59	64
Maryland	1,069	$56.31	$41.80	39
Missouri	1,059	$55.41	$43.12	50
New Jersey	919	$59.05	$41.66	38
Ohio	855	$54.62	$41.52	46
Alabama	784	$60.63	$48.86	37
Connecticut	573	$55.50	$40.63	28
Colorado	561	$54.90	$40.04	29
Minnesota	554	$60.28	$45.63	21
Illinois	503	$54.27	$40.99	19
Georgia	497	$66.20	$53.02	26
Kentucky	459	$52.98	$40.93	14
Washington	446	$63.92	$46.89	19
Indiana	329	$62.74	$49.34	12
South Carolina	312	$52.26	$41.22	17
Wisconsin	301	$51.78	$38.03	18
Nebraska	288	$54.64	$43.26	16
Louisiana	232	$53.28	$41.42	9
West Virginia	216	$52.08	$39.39	8
District of Columbia	207	$54.90	$40.88	6
New Mexico	159	$53.92	$40.28	2
Kansas	151	$51.56	$41.28	9
Arkansas	150	$54.12	$44.51	8
Mississippi	144	$51.72	$42.03	7
Hawaii	113	$54.18	$41.03	5
Idaho	104	$53.60	$38.70	8
Montana	94	$53.84	$39.41	7
Delaware	93	$53.10	$40.98	1
Oregon	92	$59.44	$44.80	5
Rhode Island	65	$54.79	$41.38	4
Utah	59	$60.81	$42.92	4
AA	51	$53.28	$41.31	1
New Hampshire	47	$54.10	$41.63	2
Nevada	37	$56.70	$40.89	2
Puerto Rico	37	$52.29	$38.58	2
Wyoming	31	$54.74	$38.42	2
Iowa	30	$54.09	$41.75	2
North Dakota	27	$54.32	$39.34	2
Alaska	23	$64.14	$32.27	2
South Dakota	15	$51.95	$41.02	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.