How much does Medicare pay for CPT 82523?

Medicare allowed an average of $18.30 per service and paid $18.30 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $179.32, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 82523?

Collagen cross links test, (urine test to evaluate bone health). It was billed 85,566 times to 73,045 Medicare beneficiaries by 150 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 82523 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 80,865 services from 115 clinicians. Next are Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Internal Medicine.

CPT 82523

Collagen cross links test, (urine test to evaluate bone health)

$18.30Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 85,566 services

Providers submitted

$179.32

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$18.30

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$18.30

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $179.32 for this code and Medicare allowed $18.30 — 9.8× 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 $18.30 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 85,566
Beneficiaries: 73,045
Providers billing it: 150
Total allowed: $1,565,858

What Medicare pays for CPT 82523

Across 85,566 services billed by 150 providers to 73,045 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $18.30 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 82523

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	80,865	69,896	$18.30	115
Endocrinology	2,566	1,558	$18.30	12
Rheumatology	1,402	947	$18.30	13
Internal Medicine	464	406	$18.27	4
Pathology	133	124	$18.17	3
Emergency Medicine	124	103	$18.31	2
General Practice	12	11	$18.31	1

82523 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	21,657	$18.30	$18.31	21
New Jersey	15,801	$18.30	$18.31	7
North Carolina	9,689	$18.31	$18.31	1
Florida	7,185	$18.31	$18.31	9
New York	4,860	$18.30	$18.31	17
Texas	4,596	$18.30	$18.31	11
Massachusetts	4,325	$18.31	$18.31	4
Pennsylvania	1,624	$18.31	$18.31	5
Wisconsin	1,501	$18.30	$18.31	4
Arizona	1,496	$18.31	$18.31	3
Colorado	1,383	$18.31	$18.31	3
Maryland	1,383	$18.28	$18.31	3
Minnesota	1,216	$18.29	$18.31	5
Illinois	1,060	$18.31	$18.31	3
Ohio	994	$18.26	$18.31	6
Kansas	876	$18.31	$18.31	3
Washington	768	$18.31	$18.31	5
Georgia	746	$18.31	$18.31	1
New Mexico	702	$18.31	$18.31	1
Nevada	449	$18.31	$18.31	2
Utah	443	$18.31	$18.31	3
Alabama	441	$18.31	$18.31	2
Tennessee	422	$18.31	$18.31	2
Hawaii	386	$18.24	$18.31	2
Virginia	385	$18.23	$18.31	4
Michigan	287	$18.31	$18.31	3
Oregon	238	$18.31	$18.31	3
Indiana	161	$18.31	$18.31	3
Rhode Island	108	$18.31	$18.31	1
Oklahoma	102	$17.85	$18.31	2
New Hampshire	101	$18.31	$18.31	4
Connecticut	45	$18.31	$18.31	1
Kentucky	31	$17.23	$18.31	1
South Dakota	30	$17.82	$18.31	1
Puerto Rico	21	$18.31	$18.31	1
South Carolina	20	$18.31	$18.31	1
Maine	18	$18.31	$18.31	1
North Dakota	16	$18.31	$18.31	1

Related codes

82570Creatinine level to test for kidney function or muscle injury$5.06
82550Creatine kinase (cardiac enzyme) level$6.37
82565Blood creatinine level$4.89
82533Cortisol (hormone) measurement$15.94
82542Chemical analysis$23.53
82525Copper level$12.12
82507Citrate level$27.22
82530Cortisol (hormone) measurement$16.35
82553Creatine kinase (cardiac enzyme) level$11.29
82575Creatinine clearance measurement to test for kidney function$9.19
82552Creatine kinase (cardiac enzyme) level$13.09
82595Cryoglobulin (protein) measurement$6.34

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.