How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88184?

Medicare allowed an average of $81.32 per service and paid $62.96 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $246.63, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88184?

Flow cytometry technique for dna or cell analysis, first marker. It was billed 91,181 times to 81,892 Medicare beneficiaries by 619 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 88184 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 55,831 services from 103 clinicians. Next are Pathology, Hematology-Oncology, Medical Oncology.

CPT 88184

Flow cytometry technique for dna or cell analysis, first marker

$81.32Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 91,181 services

Providers submitted

$246.63

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$81.32

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$62.96

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $246.63 for this code and Medicare allowed $81.32 — 3.0× 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 $62.96 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 91,181
Beneficiaries: 81,892
Providers billing it: 619
Total allowed: $7,414,839

What Medicare pays for CPT 88184

Across 91,181 services billed by 619 providers to 81,892 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $81.32 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 88184

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	55,831	49,899	$81.70	103
Pathology	16,003	15,012	$78.09	107
Hematology-Oncology	12,946	11,581	$81.55	291
Medical Oncology	3,444	2,950	$82.90	72
Internal Medicine	1,092	956	$88.72	15
Allergy/ Immunology	736	496	$92.18	7
Hematology	421	384	$84.53	9
Hospitalist	305	279	$92.24	2
Otolaryngology	172	131	$88.86	1
Nurse Practitioner	163	137	$78.86	8
Physician Assistant	34	34	$86.72	2
Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy	21	20	$74.86	1
Diagnostic Radiology	13	13	$92.42	1

88184 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	13,224	$90.68	$59.90	97
California	12,296	$89.83	$58.45	33
Florida	11,588	$76.23	$60.15	22
New Jersey	10,986	$87.32	$58.96	15
Texas	8,547	$73.17	$59.14	86
Connecticut	5,824	$82.75	$59.17	5
Arizona	4,654	$78.16	$58.42	18
Tennessee	4,507	$67.15	$59.89	30
Virginia	4,251	$84.35	$58.91	64
North Carolina	2,823	$70.90	$57.33	5
Minnesota	2,129	$77.62	$59.52	3
Alabama	1,314	$66.86	$58.96	32
Maryland	1,196	$90.18	$59.38	31
Washington	961	$84.10	$59.18	20
Illinois	810	$77.03	$60.56	18
Arkansas	728	$65.37	$58.07	14
Ohio	564	$58.69	$58.58	6
Michigan	489	$80.24	$59.72	8
Georgia	459	$70.49	$59.33	6
Colorado	426	$79.03	$58.03	14
Wisconsin	373	$76.76	$58.38	4
Nebraska	339	$69.11	$59.90	15
Oklahoma	329	$67.97	$59.27	9
Kansas	315	$69.02	$60.60	12
Missouri	295	$75.43	$59.24	4
South Carolina	238	$71.52	$59.69	7
Indiana	230	$69.72	$57.34	7
New Mexico	228	$68.56	$58.37	1
Pennsylvania	214	$73.19	$58.22	4
Oregon	151	$74.88	$60.69	3
Utah	130	$70.62	$60.37	6
Maine	117	$77.12	$56.72	1
Hawaii	79	$86.39	$58.09	3
Kentucky	50	$67.07	$59.87	2
South Dakota	42	$76.23	$55.55	2
Rhode Island	40	$81.03	$56.94	2
Louisiana	39	$65.16	$61.67	1
Massachusetts	32	$92.60	$61.07	1
Iowa	31	$41.59	$58.73	1
Puerto Rico	29	$74.11	$56.69	1
Delaware	27	$88.80	$57.05	1
West Virginia	25	$68.97	$60.87	1
North Dakota	16	$76.02	$53.17	1
Nevada	13	$79.58	$55.18	1
Idaho	12	$69.36	$61.07	1
Montana	11	$76.29	$60.80	1

Related codes

88185Flow cytometry technique for dna or cell analysis$24.39
88112Cell examination of specimen$38.46
88173Evaluation of fine needle aspirate$83.18
88189Flow cytometry technique for dna or cell analysis$82.33
88108Cell examination of specimen$28.49
88175Pap test, automated thin layer preparation; automated system and manua$25.99
88172Evaluation of fine needle aspirate$36.27
88120Cell examination of urine$465.04
88188Flow cytometry technique for dna or cell analysis$60.36
88177Pap test, evaluation of fine needle aspirate, immediate, each addition$21.33
88141Pap test$24.26
88121Cell examination of urine$380.49

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.