How much does Medicare pay for CPT 82525?

Medicare allowed an average of $12.12 per service and paid $12.12 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $81.37, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 82525?

Copper level. It was billed 79,665 times to 70,546 Medicare beneficiaries by 135 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 82525 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 79,616 services from 134 clinicians. Next are Pathology.

CPT 82525

Copper level

$12.12Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 79,665 services

Providers submitted

$81.37

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$12.12

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$12.12

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $81.37 for this code and Medicare allowed $12.12 — 6.7× 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 $12.12 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 79,665
Beneficiaries: 70,546
Providers billing it: 135
Total allowed: $965,540

What Medicare pays for CPT 82525

Across 79,665 services billed by 135 providers to 70,546 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $12.12 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 82525

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	79,616	70,508	$12.12	134
Pathology	49	38	$12.16	1

82525 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
North Carolina	15,582	$12.15	$12.16	7
New Jersey	11,206	$12.13	$12.16	8
California	8,538	$11.94	$12.16	10
Texas	7,442	$12.15	$12.16	9
Florida	6,134	$12.15	$12.16	8
Washington	4,391	$12.15	$12.16	5
Arizona	4,120	$12.13	$12.16	4
Georgia	3,502	$12.16	$12.16	1
Pennsylvania	2,638	$12.13	$12.16	6
Ohio	2,436	$12.13	$12.16	10
Kansas	1,860	$12.15	$12.16	4
Tennessee	1,691	$12.13	$12.16	3
Alabama	1,408	$12.13	$12.16	3
Illinois	1,085	$12.16	$12.16	2
Utah	966	$12.08	$12.16	3
Colorado	782	$12.16	$12.16	3
New York	719	$12.15	$12.16	4
Maryland	695	$12.16	$12.16	4
Minnesota	641	$12.12	$12.16	3
Oklahoma	598	$12.16	$12.16	3
Virginia	512	$12.14	$12.16	4
Oregon	432	$11.95	$12.16	5
Massachusetts	394	$12.16	$12.16	2
Nevada	378	$12.16	$12.16	2
Hawaii	300	$12.16	$12.16	2
Wisconsin	279	$12.12	$12.16	2
New Mexico	177	$12.04	$12.16	1
Iowa	158	$11.89	$12.16	2
Kentucky	156	$12.16	$12.16	1
Indiana	128	$12.08	$12.16	2
Michigan	95	$12.16	$12.16	1
Mississippi	45	$12.16	$12.16	1
Puerto Rico	42	$12.16	$12.16	2
South Dakota	37	$12.16	$12.16	2
Louisiana	35	$12.16	$12.16	2
Maine	20	$12.16	$12.16	1
Idaho	20	$12.16	$12.16	1
Rhode Island	12	$12.16	$12.16	1
South Carolina	11	$12.16	$12.16	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
82523Collagen cross links test$18.30
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.