How much does Medicare pay for CPT 81479?

Medicare allowed an average of $2459.22 per service and paid $2459.22 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $5993.91, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 81479?

Molecular pathology procedure. It was billed 232,621 times to 192,898 Medicare beneficiaries by 76 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 81479 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 232,402 services from 71 clinicians. Next are Pathology.

CPT 81479

Molecular pathology procedure

$2459.22Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 232,621 services

Providers submitted

$5993.91

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$2459.22

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$2459.22

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $5993.91 for this code and Medicare allowed $2459.22 — 2.4× 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 $2459.22 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 232,621
Beneficiaries: 192,898
Providers billing it: 76
Total allowed: $572,066,216

What Medicare pays for CPT 81479

Across 232,621 services billed by 76 providers to 192,898 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $2459.22 per service. That is 1.2 services per beneficiary, so this is a code patients typically receive more than once. 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 81479

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	232,402	192,706	$2460.48	71
Pathology	219	192	$1123.99	5

81479 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	149,145	$2392.21	$2392.91	23
Arizona	32,117	$3273.42	$3273.69	5
Utah	18,157	$1736.30	$1737.57	2
North Carolina	14,118	$1186.89	$1186.96	5
Washington	5,641	$6473.21	$6473.21	6
Kansas	3,483	$2324.11	$2336.58	3
Pennsylvania	3,232	$3021.95	$3022.90	2
Tennessee	2,662	$1128.10	$1128.12	3
Georgia	1,200	$643.74	$643.75	2
Massachusetts	633	$2858.11	$2858.11	1
Nebraska	290	$1122.26	$1122.26	1
Nevada	234	$379.42	$379.51	1
Minnesota	220	$476.28	$476.28	3
Indiana	211	$1001.22	$1001.22	2
Alabama	191	$248.86	$248.87	1
Ohio	170	$305.68	$305.68	2
Texas	144	$897.63	$897.63	1
Connecticut	142	$829.35	$829.35	1
Michigan	136	$1313.32	$1313.32	2
Hawaii	117	$2617.94	$2617.94	2
Missouri	92	$2067.99	$2076.15	2
Wisconsin	76	$351.82	$361.39	1
Kentucky	71	$921.05	$921.05	2
New Jersey	67	$140.47	$140.49	1
Illinois	38	$1036.77	$1036.77	1
Virginia	34	$284.35	$284.35	1

Related codes

81419Gene analysis panel for evaluation of genes associated$2399.59
81443Genomic sequence analysis panel for severe inherited conditions$2399.06
81440Test for detecting genes$3255.53
81448Gene analysis panel for hereditary disorders of the peripheral nervous$573.13
81450Genomic sequence analysis panel of dna or combined dna and rna of 5-50$740.49
81490Test for detecting genes associated$823.71
81455Genomic sequence analysis panel of dna or combined dna and rna of 51 o$2857.03
81418Genomic sequence analysis panel of at least 6 genes associated$898.48
81400Molecular pathology procedure level 1$62.67
81445Genomic sequence analysis panel of dna or combined dna and rna of 5-50$584.49
81401Molecular pathology procedure level 2$134.16

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.