How much does Medicare pay for CPT 74270?

Medicare allowed an average of $64.16 per service and paid $49.45 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $271.88, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 74270?

Single contrast x-ray of large intestine. It was billed 2,556 times to 2,528 Medicare beneficiaries by 131 providers in 2024.

Does 74270 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $138.25 in an office setting and $46.94 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 74270 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 1,926 services from 107 clinicians. Next are Colorectal Surgery (Proctology), Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner.

CPT 74270

Single contrast x-ray of large intestine

$64.16Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 2,556 services

Providers submitted

$271.88

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$64.16

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$49.45

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $271.88 for this code and Medicare allowed $64.16 — 4.2× 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 $49.45 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $138.25
Hospital / facility: $46.94

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. 482 services were billed in an office setting and 2,074 in a facility.

Services: 2,556
Beneficiaries: 2,528
Providers billing it: 131
Total allowed: $163,993

What Medicare pays for CPT 74270

Across 2,556 services billed by 131 providers to 2,528 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $64.16 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 74270

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	1,926	1,902	$55.12	107
Colorectal Surgery (Proctology)	402	400	$118.80	14
Physician Assistant	94	93	$40.25	4
Nurse Practitioner	68	68	$39.25	2
Interventional Radiology	53	52	$45.40	3
Family Practice	13	13	$92.84	1

74270 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
Minnesota	358	$145.53	$115.27	14
Florida	235	$64.72	$48.39	12
California	183	$50.65	$35.23	7
Ohio	160	$45.87	$34.57	9
New York	145	$49.18	$35.57	7
Texas	123	$46.92	$35.35	8
Missouri	110	$43.52	$34.01	4
Washington	96	$47.55	$34.32	4
Michigan	86	$44.03	$30.91	4
Indiana	82	$45.64	$34.40	3
Tennessee	75	$44.84	$36.40	5
Arkansas	72	$43.98	$35.43	4
Massachusetts	71	$47.59	$34.32	4
Kansas	65	$42.43	$34.05	4
Kentucky	62	$53.39	$43.28	4
Illinois	57	$74.70	$59.58	3
Arizona	57	$77.71	$61.81	3
Pennsylvania	51	$49.76	$31.87	3
Virginia	48	$47.00	$32.13	3
Nebraska	48	$44.62	$36.93	2
Rhode Island	46	$47.99	$36.29	2
North Carolina	45	$75.61	$57.27	3
South Carolina	38	$46.04	$36.66	3
Mississippi	38	$44.40	$35.00	3
Colorado	33	$48.31	$34.49	1
Georgia	29	$45.88	$32.91	2
Vermont	25	$46.65	$29.41	1
Connecticut	24	$49.55	$36.71	2
Maryland	22	$45.64	$36.74	2
Oklahoma	19	$45.90	$34.87	1
Iowa	18	$45.45	$34.69	1
New Jersey	12	$50.13	$33.63	1
Alabama	12	$45.57	$36.74	1
Wisconsin	11	$47.80	$35.20	1

Related codes

74230Imaging for evaluation of swallowing function$30.38
74220Single contrast x-ray of esophagus$35.23
74221Double contrast x-ray of esophagus$49.22
74240Single contrast x-ray of upper digestive tract$66.13
74246Double contrast x-ray of upper digestive tract$63.10
74250Single contrast x-ray of small intestine$38.13
74261Diagnostic ct scan of large intestine without contrast$161.07

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.