CPT 87210

Across 18,635 services billed by 419 providers to 14,549 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $5.67 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.

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.

• 87205Special gram or giemsa stain for microorganism$4.17
• 87209Special stain for parasites$17.57
• 87206Special fluorescent and/or acid fast stain for microorganism$5.27
• 87220Tissue fungi or parasites$4.17
• 87207Special stain for inclusion bodies or parasites$7.96
• 87255Virus isolation$33.06
• 87230Microbial toxin or antitoxin assay$19.34
• 87254Virus isolation$18.86
• 87275Detection test by immunofluorescent technique for influenza b virus$11.88
• 87276Detection test by immunofluorescent technique for influenza a virus$15.50
• 87252Tissue culture inoculation for virus isolation$25.53

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 →