How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88237?

Medicare allowed an average of $140.51 per service and paid $140.51 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $466.92, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88237?

Tissue culture for tumor disorders of bone marrow and blood cells. It was billed 31,736 times to 24,829 Medicare beneficiaries by 107 providers in 2024.

Which specialty bills 88237 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 25,577 services from 76 clinicians. Next are Pathology, Medical Genetics and Genomics.

CPT 88237

Tissue culture for tumor disorders of bone marrow and blood cells

$140.51Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 31,736 services

Providers submitted

$466.92

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$140.51

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$140.51

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $466.92 for this code and Medicare allowed $140.51 — 3.3× 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 $140.51 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Services: 31,736
Beneficiaries: 24,829
Providers billing it: 107
Total allowed: $4,459,225

What Medicare pays for CPT 88237

Across 31,736 services billed by 107 providers to 24,829 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $140.51 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.

Who bills 88237

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	25,577	21,233	$140.52	76
Pathology	6,110	3,574	$140.44	30
Medical Genetics and Genomics	49	22	$140.87	1

88237 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	7,346	$140.54	$140.88	10
California	4,670	$140.17	$140.88	13
Texas	3,452	$140.65	$140.88	18
New Jersey	3,188	$140.59	$140.88	5
Tennessee	2,879	$140.66	$140.88	7
Connecticut	1,895	$140.48	$140.81	4
New York	1,591	$140.78	$140.88	8
Arizona	1,567	$140.76	$140.88	2
North Carolina	859	$140.87	$140.88	3
Minnesota	781	$140.87	$140.88	2
Washington	755	$140.20	$140.88	3
Pennsylvania	748	$140.64	$140.88	4
Georgia	487	$140.10	$140.88	2
Alabama	263	$139.57	$140.88	2
Virginia	231	$140.87	$140.88	2
Illinois	228	$140.87	$140.88	3
Ohio	135	$137.42	$140.88	4
Oklahoma	120	$140.87	$140.88	2
Nevada	102	$140.87	$140.88	1
Kansas	84	$140.87	$140.88	1
Massachusetts	76	$140.87	$140.88	3
Puerto Rico	71	$140.87	$140.88	1
Missouri	39	$140.49	$140.88	1
Michigan	36	$140.87	$140.88	1
Indiana	34	$140.87	$140.88	1
Wisconsin	32	$119.54	$140.88	1
Maine	29	$140.87	$140.88	1
New Mexico	25	$140.87	$140.88	1
Hawaii	13	$140.87	$140.88	1

Related codes

88271Dna testing for genetic defects$20.97
88291Interpretation and report of genetic testing$34.01
88275Chromosome analysis for genetic defects$50.09
88264Chromosome analysis for genetic defects$141.24
88280Chromosome analysis for genetic defects$32.68
88262Chromosome analysis for genetic defects$122.52
88285Chromosome analysis for genetic defects$26.43

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.