How much does Medicare pay for CPT 72148?

Medicare allowed an average of $116.92 per service and paid $88.39 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $921.20, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 72148?

Mri scan of lower spinal canal without contrast. It was billed 1,379,161 times to 1,329,958 Medicare beneficiaries by 14,898 providers in 2024.

Does 72148 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $145.51 in an office setting and $68.49 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 72148 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 1,109,536 services from 11,185 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Orthopedic Surgery, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

CPT 72148

Mri scan of lower spinal canal without contrast

$116.92Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 1,379,161 services

Providers submitted

$921.20

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$116.92

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$88.39

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $921.20 for this code and Medicare allowed $116.92 — 7.9× 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 $88.39 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $145.51
Hospital / facility: $68.49

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. 867,161 services were billed in an office setting and 512,000 in a facility.

Services: 1,379,161
Beneficiaries: 1,329,958
Providers billing it: 14,898
Total allowed: $161,251,504

What Medicare pays for CPT 72148

Across 1,379,161 services billed by 14,898 providers to 1,329,958 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $116.92 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 72148

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	1,109,536	1,070,625	$108.94	11,185
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	129,180	125,548	$171.20	811
Orthopedic Surgery	57,322	54,143	$137.10	1,239
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	20,590	19,660	$135.65	353
Interventional Radiology	16,514	16,332	$96.15	248
Neurosurgery	7,705	7,363	$136.84	148
Physician Assistant	7,158	6,755	$121.52	210
Pain Management	4,708	4,219	$134.13	83
Family Practice	4,054	3,883	$129.01	127
Interventional Pain Management	3,628	3,275	$140.88	59
Anesthesiology	3,350	3,175	$147.32	53
Neurology	2,956	2,900	$136.78	76
Nurse Practitioner	2,707	2,684	$120.16	79
Nuclear Medicine	1,962	1,786	$117.52	21
Internal Medicine	1,876	1,842	$123.28	53

72148 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	142,508	$141.04	$93.09	1,333
Florida	111,198	$138.63	$104.56	1,064
Texas	99,754	$118.07	$89.31	914
New York	90,212	$146.42	$98.34	822
Illinois	55,325	$102.68	$75.36	708
Ohio	47,524	$91.29	$69.01	463
Pennsylvania	47,296	$104.34	$76.12	598
North Carolina	46,380	$98.57	$76.36	577
Massachusetts	42,626	$112.10	$77.27	389
Georgia	41,773	$108.30	$83.86	523
Virginia	41,424	$105.70	$77.12	345
New Jersey	40,368	$156.60	$105.85	350
Tennessee	37,272	$95.36	$76.44	477
Maryland	34,898	$153.24	$107.10	229
Arizona	31,343	$129.18	$97.29	240
Missouri	29,901	$91.11	$69.50	291
Colorado	28,162	$121.51	$86.28	318
South Carolina	27,895	$107.72	$85.64	323
Minnesota	27,885	$109.54	$80.51	442
Michigan	26,827	$93.80	$69.68	312
Washington	25,455	$110.76	$78.32	312
Alabama	23,280	$111.30	$90.80	330
Indiana	21,543	$96.20	$75.02	290
Oklahoma	20,120	$91.69	$72.01	188
Louisiana	18,509	$104.55	$84.20	252
Wisconsin	18,211	$88.70	$66.31	316
Arkansas	16,732	$78.41	$62.81	180
Kansas	14,186	$89.29	$69.69	152
Connecticut	14,111	$126.42	$89.51	182
Oregon	14,014	$97.05	$71.92	167
Mississippi	13,999	$102.19	$84.41	146
Kentucky	12,652	$98.28	$77.86	192
Nevada	11,998	$135.35	$101.97	153
Iowa	11,350	$91.51	$71.84	159
Utah	11,066	$103.88	$79.73	132
Nebraska	10,382	$86.15	$67.81	111
Delaware	7,816	$116.36	$86.25	54
New Hampshire	7,632	$90.76	$66.30	123
District of Columbia	5,901	$134.20	$92.68	42
Idaho	5,796	$85.13	$65.12	61
West Virginia	5,561	$89.52	$66.95	96
Montana	5,279	$91.46	$66.24	70
New Mexico	5,069	$110.78	$84.13	71
Maine	4,560	$109.29	$79.80	54
North Dakota	3,693	$72.16	$53.36	43
Alaska	3,479	$153.98	$96.49	51
Rhode Island	3,420	$134.75	$94.66	42
Wyoming	3,161	$109.56	$81.19	51
South Dakota	3,007	$97.15	$70.81	59
Vermont	2,539	$86.02	$64.34	25
Hawaii	2,083	$123.72	$85.79	33
Puerto Rico	1,457	$132.17	$97.20	33
Guam	228	$189.38	$114.36	4
XX	113	$70.43	$47.84	1
AA	81	$66.35	$52.31	2
AP	76	$84.37	$57.84	2

Related codes

72125Ct scan of upper spine without contrast$46.99
72100X-ray of lower and sacral spine$23.76
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
72156Mri scan of upper spinal canal before and after contrast$142.72

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.