How much does Medicare pay for CPT 73221?

Medicare allowed an average of $127.60 per service and paid $95.37 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $921.26, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 73221?

Mri scan of arm joint without contrast. It was billed 484,373 times to 447,567 Medicare beneficiaries by 7,815 providers in 2024.

Does 73221 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $154.27 in an office setting and $62.18 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 73221 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 376,270 services from 5,178 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine.

CPT 73221

Mri scan of arm joint without contrast

$127.60Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 484,373 services

Providers submitted

$921.26

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$127.60

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$95.37

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $921.26 for this code and Medicare allowed $127.60 — 7.2× 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 $95.37 (75%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $154.27
Hospital / facility: $62.18

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. 344,096 services were billed in an office setting and 140,277 in a facility.

Services: 484,373
Beneficiaries: 447,567
Providers billing it: 7,815
Total allowed: $61,805,995

What Medicare pays for CPT 73221

Across 484,373 services billed by 7,815 providers to 447,567 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $127.60 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 73221

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	376,270	348,706	$116.98	5,178
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	46,209	42,751	$184.93	669
Orthopedic Surgery	42,353	38,476	$153.69	1,303
Sports Medicine	5,786	5,217	$147.48	174
Hand Surgery	4,193	3,783	$150.09	152
Physician Assistant	2,618	2,316	$132.71	110
Interventional Radiology	1,704	1,538	$101.55	41
Family Practice	1,612	1,480	$146.60	56
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	520	502	$153.93	21
Nuclear Medicine	438	414	$97.57	3
Internal Medicine	390	366	$158.65	16
Rheumatology	357	317	$144.26	14
Nurse Practitioner	343	318	$134.65	19
Radiation Oncology	298	291	$96.05	9
Anesthesiology	280	166	$118.74	5

73221 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	58,157	$159.91	$103.98	788
Florida	38,406	$156.31	$117.96	525
New York	32,985	$155.07	$103.85	406
Texas	32,063	$130.68	$99.39	480
Ohio	21,274	$89.68	$67.54	284
Illinois	19,468	$110.04	$80.74	409
Pennsylvania	16,372	$102.87	$75.93	289
Virginia	15,193	$117.21	$85.04	186
Massachusetts	15,066	$126.43	$86.65	203
New Jersey	14,700	$177.50	$119.65	188
North Carolina	14,134	$101.80	$80.00	277
Tennessee	13,279	$100.72	$80.50	243
Colorado	12,726	$126.58	$88.40	187
Georgia	12,018	$117.03	$91.13	269
Maryland	11,637	$163.30	$113.35	103
Arizona	11,112	$146.75	$109.98	129
Missouri	11,090	$100.18	$76.57	155
South Carolina	9,868	$113.35	$90.20	163
Washington	9,423	$115.55	$81.18	178
Michigan	9,142	$94.81	$70.43	145
Minnesota	8,801	$117.76	$84.56	196
Indiana	7,657	$101.55	$79.26	163
Arkansas	6,985	$70.69	$67.31	104
Oklahoma	6,317	$97.55	$78.13	92
Alabama	6,165	$118.11	$96.51	178
Louisiana	5,484	$109.12	$89.17	119
Wisconsin	5,430	$92.01	$67.90	148
Nevada	5,045	$150.83	$112.40	92
Oregon	4,771	$105.08	$76.40	89
Mississippi	4,724	$117.85	$100.42	81
Connecticut	4,117	$154.52	$108.04	88
Kansas	4,092	$100.13	$76.54	82
Iowa	3,983	$96.75	$75.43	77
Kentucky	3,825	$108.32	$86.89	99
Nebraska	3,587	$85.90	$66.21	64
Utah	2,935	$129.46	$98.40	58
Idaho	2,305	$83.46	$64.55	31
New Hampshire	2,303	$94.85	$68.38	64
Delaware	1,817	$133.52	$99.13	24
New Mexico	1,791	$127.05	$99.61	40
Wyoming	1,662	$117.76	$85.47	41
Maine	1,638	$100.48	$75.70	34
Montana	1,636	$106.61	$76.15	47
South Dakota	1,319	$97.02	$67.06	36
District of Columbia	1,278	$168.74	$119.09	10
West Virginia	1,263	$65.53	$49.41	34
Rhode Island	1,066	$165.75	$116.31	18
North Dakota	962	$71.84	$52.79	28
Hawaii	921	$160.54	$109.77	13
Alaska	917	$186.96	$120.90	24
Vermont	730	$90.08	$65.37	19
Puerto Rico	475	$104.56	$75.34	10
Guam	103	$203.79	$125.43	2
AA	94	$61.35	$43.21	1
AP	62	$141.31	$98.34	2

Related codes

73200Ct scan of arm without contrast$77.63
73218Mri scan of arm without contrast$212.48
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.