How much does Medicare pay for CPT 73222?

Medicare allowed an average of $197.59 per service and paid $151.09 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $1367.63, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 73222?

Mri scan of arm joint with contrast. It was billed 5,004 times to 4,625 Medicare beneficiaries by 216 providers in 2024.

Does 73222 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $238.56 in an office setting and $74.18 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 73222 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 3,323 services from 152 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Orthopedic Surgery, Sports Medicine.

CPT 73222

Mri scan of arm joint with contrast

$197.59Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,004 services

Providers submitted

$1367.63

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$197.59

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$151.09

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $1367.63 for this code and Medicare allowed $197.59 — 6.9× 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 $151.09 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $238.56
Hospital / facility: $74.18

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. 3,757 services were billed in an office setting and 1,247 in a facility.

Services: 5,004
Beneficiaries: 4,625
Providers billing it: 216
Total allowed: $988,740

What Medicare pays for CPT 73222

Across 5,004 services billed by 216 providers to 4,625 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $197.59 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 73222

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	3,323	3,004	$154.27	152
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	916	883	$292.63	36
Orthopedic Surgery	594	577	$281.13	20
Sports Medicine	78	78	$251.24	2
Hand Surgery	70	60	$216.44	4
Physician Assistant	12	12	$296.05	1
Family Practice	11	11	$250.45	1

73222 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
Texas	664	$265.08	$204.04	19
California	596	$227.63	$158.29	23
Washington	452	$223.55	$159.28	22
Illinois	443	$171.35	$134.66	21
Virginia	424	$162.35	$124.18	8
Alabama	321	$249.51	$219.63	15
Missouri	173	$185.28	$143.85	10
Florida	168	$300.26	$238.08	10
Idaho	153	$143.03	$115.81	6
Arkansas	139	$69.52	$57.56	4
North Carolina	126	$178.09	$143.34	7
Georgia	109	$249.15	$192.72	7
Alaska	106	$292.03	$195.04	5
Utah	102	$199.97	$162.32	6
South Carolina	90	$206.05	$168.94	4
Oklahoma	90	$132.07	$102.89	4
Indiana	70	$73.81	$52.49	3
Tennessee	70	$109.15	$88.01	3
New Hampshire	66	$75.62	$56.98	4
Ohio	65	$80.69	$61.49	3
Oregon	63	$89.45	$71.58	4
Iowa	51	$188.58	$143.00	3
Nevada	44	$167.07	$127.17	2
Wyoming	44	$72.43	$49.71	1
Kansas	39	$72.46	$49.54	2
Montana	39	$73.98	$52.59	2
New Jersey	37	$349.70	$242.98	2
Nebraska	36	$219.64	$191.68	1
Michigan	32	$74.77	$51.79	2
Pennsylvania	31	$72.94	$55.71	2
Wisconsin	30	$73.37	$56.43	2
Kentucky	29	$205.09	$171.33	2
Colorado	28	$143.15	$107.12	2
Massachusetts	20	$317.49	$247.40	1
New York	18	$72.50	$59.06	1
Minnesota	12	$83.11	$58.46	1
Maryland	12	$76.37	$58.37	1
Arizona	12	$333.46	$245.16	1

Related codes

73221Mri scan of arm joint without contrast$127.60
73200Ct scan of arm without contrast$77.63
73218Mri scan of arm without contrast$212.48
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.