How much does Medicare pay for CPT 73218?

Medicare allowed an average of $212.48 per service and paid $163.70 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1141.31, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 73218?

Mri scan of arm without contrast. It was billed 14,419 times to 12,911 Medicare beneficiaries by 600 providers in 2024.

Does 73218 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $237.69 in an office setting and $63.03 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 73218 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 12,088 services from 495 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Rheumatology, Orthopedic Surgery.

CPT 73218

Mri scan of arm without contrast

$212.48Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 14,419 services

Providers submitted

$1141.31

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$212.48

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$163.70

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1141.31 for this code and Medicare allowed $212.48 — 5.4× 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 $163.70 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $237.69
Hospital / facility: $63.03

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. 12,338 services were billed in an office setting and 2,081 in a facility.

Services: 14,419
Beneficiaries: 12,911
Providers billing it: 600
Total allowed: $3,063,749

What Medicare pays for CPT 73218

Across 14,419 services billed by 600 providers to 12,911 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $212.48 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 73218

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	12,088	10,760	$204.86	495
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	1,166	1,070	$275.38	62
Rheumatology	388	385	$214.01	7
Orthopedic Surgery	313	285	$236.59	15
Hand Surgery	285	269	$257.97	13
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	61	46	$222.94	2
Nuclear Medicine	39	35	$180.40	2
Interventional Radiology	30	14	$165.36	1
Nurse Practitioner	18	18	$203.23	1
Family Practice	18	17	$202.16	1
General Surgery	13	12	$210.80	1

73218 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	2,501	$232.55	$156.67	113
Florida	2,252	$215.17	$166.63	82
New York	2,096	$258.09	$171.26	60
Texas	1,091	$200.64	$158.54	51
New Jersey	613	$282.60	$194.38	27
Maryland	596	$260.36	$182.01	24
Ohio	555	$115.26	$87.35	15
Colorado	426	$177.48	$124.91	15
Arizona	418	$227.99	$180.10	19
Illinois	376	$149.15	$112.09	18
Virginia	306	$218.75	$159.00	15
Louisiana	293	$178.85	$159.63	7
Massachusetts	257	$246.00	$165.69	12
Pennsylvania	248	$136.88	$99.74	14
Tennessee	239	$162.92	$135.93	12
Missouri	200	$172.11	$135.24	10
Nevada	192	$275.33	$219.61	7
Michigan	156	$115.52	$82.19	10
Georgia	154	$154.83	$122.64	10
Oklahoma	121	$81.02	$62.15	7
Arkansas	120	$115.56	$96.18	7
Minnesota	115	$156.01	$115.65	8
Washington	113	$180.07	$125.61	7
North Carolina	95	$156.16	$126.49	7
Kansas	92	$170.96	$133.68	3
Delaware	90	$150.36	$123.42	4
Connecticut	78	$192.64	$132.76	3
District of Columbia	71	$276.12	$197.48	2
Mississippi	66	$250.51	$234.87	1
South Carolina	57	$142.07	$118.37	4
Nebraska	53	$89.54	$72.94	3
Kentucky	50	$262.30	$212.20	2
Wyoming	47	$259.83	$203.90	3
Iowa	38	$104.06	$88.48	3
Indiana	37	$61.24	$40.80	2
New Mexico	34	$151.59	$119.49	2
Alaska	29	$318.55	$208.96	2
Idaho	28	$60.81	$45.18	2
Hawaii	22	$265.51	$192.82	1
Wisconsin	21	$59.61	$48.61	1
Puerto Rico	19	$74.74	$48.06	1
Rhode Island	15	$171.50	$112.03	1
Oregon	14	$59.64	$48.63	1
Alabama	13	$59.87	$44.41	1
Utah	12	$279.84	$228.75	1

Related codes

73221Mri scan of arm joint without contrast$127.60
73200Ct scan of arm without contrast$77.63
73222Mri scan of arm joint$197.59
73220Mri scan of arm before and after contrast$239.19
73223Mri scan of arm joint before and after contrast$233.62
73201Ct scan of arm$80.93

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.