How much does Medicare pay for CPT 82668?

Medicare allowed an average of $18.38 per service and paid $18.38 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $137.92, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 82668?

Erythropoietin (protein) level. It was billed 88,833 times to 74,997 Medicare beneficiaries by 305 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 82668 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 72,652 services from 131 clinicians. Next are Pathology, Hematology-Oncology, Internal Medicine.

CPT 82668

Erythropoietin (protein) level

$18.38Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 88,833 services

Providers submitted

$137.92

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$18.38

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$18.38

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $137.92 for this code and Medicare allowed $18.38 — 7.5× 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 $18.38 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 88,833
Beneficiaries: 74,997
Providers billing it: 305
Total allowed: $1,632,751

What Medicare pays for CPT 82668

Across 88,833 services billed by 305 providers to 74,997 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $18.38 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 82668

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	72,652	61,379	$18.39	131
Pathology	7,332	6,467	$18.38	5
Hematology-Oncology	5,878	4,728	$18.33	127
Internal Medicine	1,476	1,121	$18.39	10
Medical Oncology	989	863	$18.33	24
Hematology	149	124	$18.08	3
Gastroenterology	127	118	$18.41	1
Rheumatology	108	89	$18.24	1
Hospitalist	94	80	$18.41	1
Family Practice	17	17	$17.45	1
Nurse Practitioner	11	11	$18.41	1

82668 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
New York	15,736	$18.38	$18.41	70
Florida	12,547	$18.38	$18.41	9
California	10,781	$18.38	$18.41	12
Texas	9,842	$18.40	$18.41	10
New Jersey	7,045	$18.41	$18.41	8
North Carolina	5,820	$18.40	$18.41	4
Tennessee	3,957	$18.35	$18.41	64
Arizona	2,664	$18.38	$18.41	4
Alabama	2,546	$18.29	$18.41	18
Ohio	2,053	$18.39	$18.41	7
Illinois	1,646	$18.36	$18.41	13
Massachusetts	1,557	$18.41	$18.41	4
Georgia	1,318	$18.41	$18.41	1
Kansas	1,265	$18.41	$18.41	3
Arkansas	1,247	$18.37	$18.41	15
Washington	1,133	$18.41	$18.41	4
Minnesota	1,020	$18.36	$18.41	4
Pennsylvania	929	$18.41	$18.41	4
Nevada	844	$18.38	$18.41	3
Colorado	653	$18.41	$18.41	3
Maryland	493	$18.41	$18.41	3
Utah	441	$18.38	$18.41	2
Hawaii	408	$18.31	$18.41	2
Oklahoma	396	$18.29	$18.41	4
Wisconsin	390	$18.14	$18.41	3
Michigan	306	$18.29	$18.41	4
Indiana	289	$18.41	$18.41	3
Nebraska	271	$18.41	$18.41	2
Virginia	256	$18.50	$18.41	4
Oregon	182	$18.41	$18.41	3
Iowa	147	$18.31	$18.41	2
New Mexico	134	$18.41	$18.41	1
South Carolina	113	$18.16	$18.41	1
Rhode Island	82	$18.41	$18.41	1
Maine	75	$18.41	$18.41	1
Louisiana	64	$18.41	$18.41	2
South Dakota	47	$18.41	$18.41	2
Puerto Rico	44	$17.53	$18.41	1
Missouri	35	$18.41	$18.41	1
Kentucky	29	$18.41	$18.41	1
New Hampshire	28	$17.83	$18.41	2

Related codes

82607Cyanocobalamin (vitamin b-12) level$14.76
82670Measurement of total estradiol (hormone)$27.32
82627Dehydroepiandrosterone (dhea-s) hormone level$21.75
82652Dihydroxyvitamin d$37.66
82626Dehydroepiandrosterone (dhea) hormone level$24.75
82610Cystatin c (enzyme inhibitor) level$18.12
82677Estriol (hormone) level$23.69
82653Measurement of pancreatic elastase (enzyme) in stool$22.48
82672Estrogen analysis$21.25
82679Estrone (hormone) level$24.43
82656Detection of pancreatic elastase (enzyme) in stool$11.29
82642Measurement of dihydrotestosterone$28.61

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.