How much does Medicare pay for CPT 77071?

Medicare allowed an average of $54.88 per service and paid $42.93 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $181.93, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 77071?

Application of stress by physician for joint imaging. It was billed 4,235 times to 3,718 Medicare beneficiaries by 121 providers in 2024.

Does 77071 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $53.89 in an office setting and $56.14 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 77071 most?

Orthopedic Surgery, with 2,933 services from 95 clinicians. Next are Podiatry, Hand Surgery, Physician Assistant.

CPT 77071

Application of stress by physician for joint imaging

$54.88Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 4,235 services

Providers submitted

$181.93

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$54.88

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$42.93

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $181.93 for this code and Medicare allowed $54.88 — 3.3× 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 $42.93 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $53.89
Hospital / facility: $56.14

The facility rate is higher for this code, which is unusual and generally means the service depends on equipment or staffing a hospital carries. 2,377 services were billed in an office setting and 1,858 in a facility.

Services: 4,235
Beneficiaries: 3,718
Providers billing it: 121
Total allowed: $232,417

What Medicare pays for CPT 77071

Across 4,235 services billed by 121 providers to 3,718 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $54.88 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 77071

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Orthopedic Surgery	2,933	2,594	$55.67	95
Podiatry	758	608	$52.37	10
Hand Surgery	332	316	$57.60	9
Physician Assistant	168	156	$46.10	5
Sports Medicine	44	44	$57.93	2

77071 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	1,174	$60.84	$42.78	31
South Carolina	396	$50.98	$42.46	5
Colorado	330	$52.24	$40.25	5
Illinois	266	$52.33	$42.97	5
Missouri	265	$51.55	$41.40	3
New Jersey	258	$54.69	$41.72	1
Indiana	172	$50.83	$40.82	4
Maryland	160	$56.13	$42.09	8
Florida	153	$53.95	$41.03	6
Texas	132	$51.40	$40.97	8
Pennsylvania	114	$52.14	$42.68	6
Arizona	100	$52.56	$42.91	4
New York	91	$54.39	$37.85	4
Virginia	72	$55.26	$39.57	3
Wisconsin	64	$51.13	$39.66	3
Louisiana	60	$50.95	$41.54	2
Ohio	53	$51.86	$42.91	4
Tennessee	48	$51.01	$42.85	2
Connecticut	46	$58.45	$43.01	2
North Dakota	41	$52.62	$42.83	2
Rhode Island	34	$56.85	$43.00	1
Alabama	32	$47.95	$42.97	2
West Virginia	30	$51.71	$42.87	1
Oregon	24	$56.10	$42.67	1
Oklahoma	23	$49.89	$42.88	1
Georgia	23	$49.76	$41.22	2
Massachusetts	20	$61.04	$42.85	1
Mississippi	15	$42.62	$44.30	1
North Carolina	15	$51.88	$42.88	1
Minnesota	12	$53.40	$43.07	1
Nevada	12	$54.79	$42.95	1

Related codes

77067Screening mammography$65.10
77063Screening 3d breast mammography$34.08
77080Dxa bone density measurement of hip$21.30
77014Ct guidance for insertion of radiation therapy fields$70.52
77065Diagnostic mammography of 1 breast$64.22
77066Diagnostic mammography of both breasts$84.05
77002Fluoroscopic guidance for needle placement$90.55
77001Fluoroscopic guidance for insertion or removal of central vein access$21.63
77049Mri scan of both breasts$196.04
77081Dxa bone density measurement of forearm$19.89
77012Review by radiologist of ct guidance for needle placement$69.78
77085Dxa bone density measurement of hip$38.47

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.