How much does Medicare pay for CPT 82553?

Medicare allowed an average of $11.29 per service and paid $11.29 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $74.32, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 82553?

Creatine kinase (cardiac enzyme) level, mb fraction only. It was billed 30,044 times to 23,132 Medicare beneficiaries by 264 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 82553 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 20,561 services from 110 clinicians. Next are Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Family Practice.

CPT 82553

Creatine kinase (cardiac enzyme) level, mb fraction only

$11.29Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 30,044 services

Providers submitted

$74.32

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$11.29

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$11.29

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $74.32 for this code and Medicare allowed $11.29 — 6.6× 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 $11.29 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 30,044
Beneficiaries: 23,132
Providers billing it: 264
Total allowed: $339,197

What Medicare pays for CPT 82553

Across 30,044 services billed by 264 providers to 23,132 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $11.29 per service. That is 1.3 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 82553

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	20,561	17,143	$11.31	110
Cardiology	3,908	1,661	$11.30	7
Internal Medicine	2,493	1,455	$11.19	29
Family Practice	1,212	1,092	$11.18	49
Emergency Medicine	738	696	$11.32	27
Physician Assistant	554	530	$11.28	17
Nurse Practitioner	419	399	$11.27	19
General Practice	130	129	$11.32	4
Hospitalist	18	16	$11.32	1
Pulmonary Disease	11	11	$11.32	1

82553 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	7,222	$11.31	$11.32	23
Texas	4,751	$11.25	$11.32	33
New Jersey	4,145	$11.31	$11.32	18
North Carolina	1,858	$11.31	$11.32	6
Alabama	1,385	$11.27	$11.32	13
Florida	1,356	$11.31	$11.32	16
New York	1,321	$11.29	$11.32	23
Pennsylvania	1,123	$11.32	$11.32	4
Ohio	892	$11.29	$11.32	3
Tennessee	738	$11.27	$11.32	9
Washington	630	$11.32	$11.32	2
Illinois	613	$11.32	$11.32	8
Michigan	480	$11.32	$11.32	4
Arizona	427	$11.32	$11.32	2
South Carolina	388	$11.24	$11.32	14
Nebraska	356	$11.30	$11.32	11
Virginia	250	$11.23	$11.32	9
Kansas	219	$11.28	$11.32	4
Massachusetts	188	$11.32	$11.32	3
Arkansas	166	$11.10	$11.32	6
Colorado	156	$11.32	$11.32	2
Oregon	151	$11.32	$11.32	2
Mississippi	150	$11.18	$11.32	9
Nevada	140	$11.32	$11.32	3
Oklahoma	133	$11.32	$11.32	3
Hawaii	124	$11.32	$11.32	2
Kentucky	77	$11.17	$11.32	3
New Mexico	76	$11.32	$11.32	1
Georgia	73	$11.32	$11.32	5
Missouri	69	$11.32	$11.32	4
Louisiana	68	$11.32	$11.32	4
Maryland	57	$11.32	$11.32	3
Utah	52	$11.32	$11.32	2
Rhode Island	50	$11.32	$11.32	1
South Dakota	44	$11.32	$11.32	3
West Virginia	30	$11.32	$11.32	1
Iowa	22	$11.32	$11.32	1
New Hampshire	19	$11.32	$11.32	1
U.S. Virgin Islands	19	$11.32	$11.32	1
Montana	14	$11.32	$11.32	1
Idaho	12	$11.32	$11.32	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
82525Copper level$12.12
82507Citrate level$27.22
82530Cortisol (hormone) measurement$16.35
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.