CPT 87510
Detection test for gardnerella vaginalis (bacteria), direct probe technique
Asking price, not received
The fee schedule figure
Balance is patient coinsurance
Providers submitted an average of $87.17 for this code and Medicare allowed $19.59 — 4.4× 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 $19.59 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.
- Services
- 24,131
- Beneficiaries
- 21,018
- Providers billing it
- 239
- Total allowed
- $472,726
Medicare Part B, 2024
Services × allowed amount
What Medicare pays for CPT 87510
Across 24,131 services billed by 239 providers to 21,018 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $19.59 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 87510
| Specialty | Services | Beneficiaries | Avg allowed | Providers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical Laboratory | 18,456 | 16,066 | $19.61 | 84 |
| Obstetrics & Gynecology | 2,456 | 2,128 | $19.49 | 91 |
| Pathology | 2,218 | 1,927 | $19.60 | 16 |
| Nurse Practitioner | 664 | 604 | $19.41 | 29 |
| Physician Assistant | 263 | 225 | $19.46 | 13 |
| Family Practice | 24 | 22 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Internal Medicine | 15 | 12 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Urology | 12 | 12 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Gynecological Oncology | 12 | 11 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Emergency Medicine | 11 | 11 | $18.38 | 1 |
87510 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 Jersey | 3,006 | $19.63 | $19.65 | 4 |
| New York | 2,179 | $19.52 | $19.65 | 31 |
| Florida | 1,682 | $19.61 | $19.65 | 8 |
| Texas | 1,563 | $19.64 | $19.65 | 12 |
| California | 1,529 | $19.60 | $19.65 | 20 |
| Arizona | 1,518 | $19.60 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Oregon | 1,445 | $19.64 | $19.65 | 11 |
| Ohio | 1,305 | $19.61 | $19.65 | 7 |
| North Carolina | 993 | $19.55 | $19.65 | 17 |
| Washington | 931 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Kansas | 703 | $19.53 | $19.65 | 5 |
| Indiana | 691 | $19.52 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Mississippi | 686 | $19.50 | $19.65 | 24 |
| Illinois | 599 | $19.59 | $19.65 | 10 |
| Massachusetts | 569 | $19.62 | $19.65 | 4 |
| Pennsylvania | 419 | $19.49 | $19.65 | 5 |
| Nebraska | 397 | $19.60 | $19.65 | 7 |
| Virginia | 363 | $19.60 | $19.65 | 5 |
| Hawaii | 335 | $19.54 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Colorado | 334 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 5 |
| Nevada | 275 | $19.22 | $19.65 | 5 |
| Minnesota | 261 | $19.63 | $19.65 | 9 |
| Alabama | 253 | $19.62 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Iowa | 243 | $19.50 | $19.65 | 6 |
| Connecticut | 242 | $19.59 | $19.65 | 2 |
| New Hampshire | 223 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Maryland | 213 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Michigan | 143 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Tennessee | 141 | $19.53 | $19.65 | 2 |
| North Dakota | 135 | $19.45 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 113 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Montana | 113 | $19.55 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Idaho | 99 | $19.15 | $19.65 | 6 |
| Utah | 83 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 3 |
| West Virginia | 72 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| South Carolina | 61 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 4 |
| South Dakota | 40 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Georgia | 38 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Louisiana | 37 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Maine | 27 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 2 |
| Wisconsin | 22 | $17.86 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Missouri | 18 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Rhode Island | 18 | $18.76 | $19.65 | 1 |
| Wyoming | 14 | $19.65 | $19.65 | 1 |
Related codes
- 87500Detection test by nucleic acid for vancomycin resistance strep (vre)$34.35
- 87581Detection test by nucleic acid for mycoplasma pneumoniae (bacteria)$34.37
- 87591Detection test by nucleic acid for neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhoeae$34.35
- 87502Detection test by nucleic acid for multiple types influenza virus$92.99
- 87529Detection test by nucleic acid for herpes simplex virus$34.33
- 87563Detection of mycoplasma genitalium by dna or rna probe$34.36
- 87541Detection test by nucleic acid for legionella pneumophila (water borne$34.38
- 87556Detection test by nucleic acid for mycobacteria tuberculosis (tb bacte$40.79
- 87511Detection test for gardnerella vaginalis (bacteria)$34.34
- 87536Detection test by nucleic acid for hiv-1 virus$83.30
- 87522Detection test by nucleic acid for hepatitis c virus$41.95
- 87532Detection test by nucleic acid for herpes virus-6$34.38
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.