How much does Medicare pay for CPT 83883?

Medicare allowed an average of $13.30 per service and paid $13.30 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $69.85, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 83883?

Nephelometry, test method using light. It was billed 105,167 times to 40,432 Medicare beneficiaries by 251 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 83883 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 55,601 services from 97 clinicians. Next are Hematology-Oncology, Pathology, Medical Oncology.

CPT 83883

Nephelometry, test method using light

$13.30Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 105,167 services

Providers submitted

$69.85

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$13.30

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$13.30

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $69.85 for this code and Medicare allowed $13.30 — 5.3× 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 $13.30 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 105,167
Beneficiaries: 40,432
Providers billing it: 251
Total allowed: $1,398,721

What Medicare pays for CPT 83883

Across 105,167 services billed by 251 providers to 40,432 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $13.30 per service. That is 2.6 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 83883

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	55,601	26,925	$13.32	97
Hematology-Oncology	28,813	8,520	$13.28	124
Pathology	16,396	3,844	$13.31	3
Medical Oncology	3,127	717	$13.30	15
Hematology	551	151	$13.33	2
Nurse Practitioner	491	221	$13.33	7
Internal Medicine	188	54	$13.33	3

83883 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
Florida	25,942	$13.31	$13.33	10
California	11,290	$13.33	$13.33	13
Virginia	7,413	$13.30	$13.33	28
Alabama	7,384	$13.20	$13.33	27
New Jersey	6,744	$13.33	$13.33	5
Georgia	4,933	$13.33	$13.33	16
New York	4,715	$13.32	$13.33	9
Tennessee	3,955	$13.30	$13.33	17
Texas	3,888	$13.33	$13.33	6
Nevada	3,608	$13.31	$13.33	28
North Carolina	3,562	$13.32	$13.33	2
Maryland	3,373	$13.30	$13.33	5
Arizona	2,821	$13.29	$13.33	3
Ohio	2,567	$13.31	$13.33	11
Arkansas	2,281	$13.30	$13.33	17
Illinois	2,268	$13.33	$13.33	3
Oregon	1,505	$13.33	$13.33	14
Massachusetts	1,240	$13.33	$13.33	3
Washington	836	$13.33	$13.33	4
Michigan	720	$13.27	$13.33	3
Louisiana	676	$13.29	$13.33	1
Kansas	649	$13.33	$13.33	2
Pennsylvania	540	$13.33	$13.33	3
Hawaii	442	$13.33	$13.33	2
Oklahoma	436	$13.33	$13.33	3
Minnesota	389	$13.33	$13.33	2
U.S. Virgin Islands	283	$13.26	$13.33	2
Colorado	274	$12.55	$13.33	4
Connecticut	272	$13.25	$13.33	1
Puerto Rico	49	$13.33	$13.33	2
Mississippi	41	$13.33	$13.33	1
Kentucky	25	$13.33	$13.33	1
Wisconsin	18	$13.33	$13.33	1
New Mexico	14	$13.33	$13.33	1
Iowa	14	$12.47	$13.33	1

Related codes

83880Natriuretic peptide (heart and blood vessel protein) level$38.42
83861Microfluid analysis of tears$21.96
83876Myeloperoxidase (white blood cell enzyme) measurement$49.73
83825Mercury level$15.69
83835Metanephrines level$16.58
83874Myoglobin (muscle protein) level$12.63
83885Nickel level$24.00

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.