How much does Medicare pay for CPT 77081?

Medicare allowed an average of $19.89 per service and paid $19.89 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $91.61, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 77081?

Dxa bone density measurement of forearm, finger, hand, or foot. It was billed 119,344 times to 116,261 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,766 providers in 2024.

Does 77081 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $24.51 in an office setting and $9.22 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 77081 most?

Diagnostic Radiology, with 83,701 services from 1,301 clinicians. Next are Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Physician Assistant.

CPT 77081

Dxa bone density measurement of forearm, finger, hand, or foot

$19.89Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 119,344 services

Providers submitted

$91.61

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$19.89

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$19.89

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $91.61 for this code and Medicare allowed $19.89 — 4.6× 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 $19.89 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $24.51
Hospital / facility: $9.22

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. 83,297 services were billed in an office setting and 36,047 in a facility.

Services: 119,344
Beneficiaries: 116,261
Providers billing it: 1,766
Total allowed: $2,373,752

What Medicare pays for CPT 77081

Across 119,344 services billed by 1,766 providers to 116,261 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $19.89 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 77081

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Diagnostic Radiology	83,701	81,009	$19.35	1,301
Endocrinology	8,733	8,577	$25.24	105
Rheumatology	5,118	5,116	$25.67	71
Physician Assistant	4,672	4,663	$9.72	35
Internal Medicine	4,340	4,332	$27.49	64
Nuclear Medicine	4,163	4,068	$13.34	59
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	2,864	2,864	$25.62	21
Family Practice	1,349	1,348	$23.60	26
Interventional Radiology	1,271	1,210	$15.32	27
Geriatric Medicine	1,007	1,006	$12.66	4
Nurse Practitioner	660	660	$13.92	16
Obstetrics & Gynecology	438	438	$27.05	12
Orthopedic Surgery	300	299	$26.71	7
Radiation Oncology	160	103	$13.83	1
Pediatric Medicine	152	152	$22.38	3

77081 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
Maryland	15,924	$31.08	$28.84	112
California	10,674	$23.08	$20.05	194
Pennsylvania	9,257	$11.32	$11.37	102
Massachusetts	8,771	$23.30	$20.63	83
New York	7,595	$26.30	$23.71	103
Wisconsin	6,047	$14.87	$15.55	56
Oregon	5,227	$15.62	$15.97	55
Ohio	5,182	$10.73	$10.48	76
Washington	5,031	$22.11	$20.74	74
New Jersey	4,797	$23.45	$20.39	38
Texas	3,336	$15.96	$16.24	93
Arizona	2,985	$26.62	$27.13	44
Illinois	2,661	$12.10	$11.72	52
Virginia	2,404	$13.94	$13.67	53
Colorado	2,199	$28.51	$26.21	19
Kentucky	2,092	$8.43	$8.36	20
Florida	2,019	$17.61	$17.88	59
Tennessee	1,994	$11.63	$12.09	30
Delaware	1,705	$20.64	$20.50	8
Iowa	1,656	$14.34	$15.31	44
North Carolina	1,605	$14.74	$14.99	32
Indiana	1,469	$10.50	$10.92	41
Minnesota	1,358	$18.49	$18.32	40
Oklahoma	1,137	$19.76	$22.92	12
Maine	1,096	$10.76	$10.16	21
Missouri	1,028	$14.58	$14.95	30
North Dakota	839	$9.67	$9.79	9
Georgia	829	$14.83	$15.53	36
Louisiana	792	$16.17	$17.48	18
Connecticut	709	$20.43	$18.62	21
Nevada	565	$19.52	$19.31	16
Alabama	503	$18.94	$21.44	15
Rhode Island	489	$16.84	$15.82	15
Idaho	480	$20.10	$19.64	9
New Mexico	447	$15.11	$15.46	9
Michigan	400	$14.11	$13.91	16
Hawaii	387	$12.39	$12.03	4
Utah	374	$24.67	$26.21	6
Vermont	371	$8.99	$9.17	6
South Carolina	370	$19.37	$20.48	10
Kansas	356	$18.87	$19.80	12
New Hampshire	336	$14.61	$13.78	8
Arkansas	322	$21.56	$22.48	8
Mississippi	251	$19.44	$21.73	8
Alaska	244	$14.48	$11.53	6
Nebraska	232	$9.55	$9.77	11
South Dakota	211	$7.81	$8.05	6
Montana	203	$13.08	$12.96	9
District of Columbia	171	$25.58	$21.78	7
West Virginia	156	$9.14	$9.13	8
Wyoming	58	$8.06	$8.24	2

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
77012Review by radiologist of ct guidance for needle placement$69.78
77085Dxa bone density measurement of hip$38.47
77092Interpretation of trabecular bone score (tbs) and report on fracture r$9.60

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.