How much does Medicare pay for CPT 73720?

Medicare allowed an average of $138.52 per service and paid $106.91 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $882.17, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 73720?

Mri scan of leg before and after contrast. It was billed 32,675 times to 30,162 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,489 providers in 2024.

Does 73720 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $256.09 in an office setting and $98.83 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 73720 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 31,249 services from 1,416 clinicians. Next are Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF), Podiatry, Interventional Radiology.

CPT 73720

Mri scan of leg before and after contrast

$138.52Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 32,675 services

Providers submitted

$882.17

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$138.52

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$106.91

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $882.17 for this code and Medicare allowed $138.52 — 6.4× 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 $106.91 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $256.09
Hospital / facility: $98.83

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. 8,246 services were billed in an office setting and 24,429 in a facility.

Services: 32,675
Beneficiaries: 30,162
Providers billing it: 1,489
Total allowed: $4,526,141

What Medicare pays for CPT 73720

Across 32,675 services billed by 1,489 providers to 30,162 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $138.52 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 73720

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	31,249	28,844	$132.68	1,416
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	1,048	966	$281.54	56
Podiatry	152	147	$334.24	6
Interventional Radiology	101	96	$98.47	5
Physician Assistant	50	48	$217.93	1
Orthopedic Surgery	20	11	$180.32	1
Pediatric Medicine	15	13	$219.37	1
Family Practice	15	14	$257.59	1
Preventive Medicine	13	11	$113.65	1
Radiation Oncology	12	12	$96.27	1

73720 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	2,582	$151.70	$105.34	122
Florida	2,404	$187.45	$142.81	98
New York	2,155	$180.73	$123.14	79
Texas	1,948	$142.55	$109.47	83
Massachusetts	1,558	$152.01	$107.45	74
Minnesota	1,376	$166.47	$122.88	61
North Carolina	1,311	$125.97	$99.51	59
Illinois	1,256	$114.91	$84.52	63
Missouri	1,229	$116.09	$89.07	59
Ohio	1,195	$108.78	$81.88	55
Michigan	1,192	$102.25	$76.25	47
Virginia	1,162	$141.14	$106.66	56
Pennsylvania	1,149	$106.07	$78.97	59
Washington	978	$110.80	$78.71	43
Wisconsin	732	$94.04	$73.17	42
Iowa	703	$115.11	$91.02	29
Colorado	699	$106.36	$77.47	34
South Carolina	696	$122.00	$99.27	32
Tennessee	675	$120.98	$98.42	31
Arizona	654	$166.32	$129.67	28
New Jersey	601	$209.51	$146.33	31
Indiana	497	$99.62	$77.43	22
Maryland	482	$234.03	$168.38	19
Connecticut	459	$114.43	$80.30	18
Georgia	415	$123.89	$94.80	24
Oregon	380	$147.78	$111.59	15
Kansas	348	$116.84	$92.27	18
Mississippi	322	$96.59	$78.13	17
Oklahoma	314	$95.31	$72.28	16
Nebraska	296	$121.54	$96.48	14
South Dakota	280	$95.83	$71.95	8
Arkansas	274	$100.20	$81.08	15
Nevada	247	$166.39	$132.91	10
Alabama	221	$144.05	$118.75	12
New Hampshire	220	$97.26	$72.44	12
Idaho	204	$94.56	$73.15	9
Utah	179	$113.73	$86.91	12
Kentucky	150	$113.69	$89.97	8
Delaware	145	$120.54	$92.74	6
Rhode Island	140	$144.31	$105.87	7
Alaska	127	$182.14	$115.82	5
Louisiana	123	$151.05	$120.58	8
District of Columbia	99	$227.06	$163.41	3
West Virginia	92	$97.46	$70.54	5
Montana	92	$130.49	$100.75	5
Vermont	77	$95.68	$68.19	4
New Mexico	54	$166.73	$135.85	3
Hawaii	53	$152.03	$103.36	3
Puerto Rico	48	$97.76	$68.64	1
Maine	39	$100.85	$74.37	2
Wyoming	29	$154.26	$122.71	2
North Dakota	14	$96.75	$76.37	1

Related codes

73721Mri scan of leg joint without contrast$127.76
73700Ct scan of leg without contrast$61.49
73718Mri scan of leg without contrast$132.74
73701Ct scan of leg$54.85
73723Mri scan of leg joint before and after contrast$189.99
73706Ct scan of blood vessels of lower leg$115.70

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.