How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88300?

Medicare allowed an average of $4.91 per service and paid $3.83 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $43.96, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88300?

Pathology examination of tissue using a microscope, limited examination. It was billed 132,297 times to 121,265 Medicare beneficiaries by 3,362 providers in 2024.

Does 88300 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $11.21 in an office setting and $4.43 in a facility. The office rate is generally higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that single payment; in a hospital those are billed separately by the facility.

Which specialty bills 88300 most?

Pathology, with 124,623 services from 3,243 clinicians. Next are Clinical Laboratory, Dermatology, Ophthalmology.

CPT 88300

Pathology examination of tissue using a microscope, limited examination

$4.91Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 132,297 services

Providers submitted

$43.96

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$4.91

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$3.83

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $43.96 for this code and Medicare allowed $4.91 — 9.0× 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 $3.83 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $11.21
Hospital / facility: $4.43

The office rate is higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that payment. In a hospital the facility bills those separately, so the clinician's share is smaller — the total cost to Medicare is usually higher, not lower. 9,324 services were billed in an office setting and 122,973 in a facility.

Services: 132,297
Beneficiaries: 121,265
Providers billing it: 3,362
Total allowed: $649,578

What Medicare pays for CPT 88300

Across 132,297 services billed by 3,362 providers to 121,265 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $4.91 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 88300

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Pathology	124,623	114,528	$4.61	3,243
Clinical Laboratory	7,077	6,161	$9.81	103
Dermatology	249	242	$14.50	6
Ophthalmology	120	118	$4.53	5
Diagnostic Radiology	111	104	$4.24	3
General Practice	71	70	$4.26	1
Emergency Medicine	46	42	$4.60	1

88300 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
California	22,627	$5.17	$3.76	461
Florida	13,566	$5.13	$3.88	299
New York	12,630	$5.43	$3.75	285
Texas	9,381	$5.18	$4.02	288
Pennsylvania	8,360	$4.61	$3.46	192
Massachusetts	5,880	$4.85	$3.56	108
Illinois	5,726	$4.63	$3.45	165
New Jersey	5,195	$5.95	$4.21	120
Ohio	4,451	$4.20	$3.34	141
Indiana	4,272	$4.24	$3.53	82
Michigan	2,928	$4.45	$3.36	90
Maryland	2,611	$4.51	$3.33	76
Kentucky	2,376	$4.17	$3.35	64
Tennessee	2,253	$4.68	$3.87	74
Missouri	2,216	$4.27	$3.33	60
Virginia	2,164	$5.92	$4.68	53
Iowa	2,076	$4.01	$3.34	33
North Carolina	2,016	$4.39	$3.64	64
South Carolina	1,770	$4.13	$3.34	52
Arizona	1,657	$5.22	$4.16	56
Connecticut	1,586	$4.93	$3.60	52
Louisiana	1,453	$4.56	$3.69	39
Arkansas	1,253	$4.26	$3.61	29
Georgia	1,181	$5.62	$4.39	48
Colorado	1,125	$4.71	$3.59	38
Oklahoma	966	$4.45	$3.72	25
Mississippi	958	$4.34	$3.53	32
Minnesota	948	$4.15	$3.29	38
Alabama	947	$4.10	$3.43	27
Nevada	934	$5.17	$4.11	25
Kansas	837	$4.44	$3.69	28
Wisconsin	695	$4.13	$3.34	28
New Hampshire	603	$5.41	$4.03	18
West Virginia	542	$4.18	$3.25	20
Delaware	428	$4.29	$3.26	13
Montana	399	$4.16	$3.36	9
Nebraska	380	$4.22	$3.33	11
Hawaii	365	$4.98	$3.74	13
Washington	353	$4.50	$3.25	20
Utah	334	$4.26	$3.32	11
North Dakota	300	$4.33	$3.29	7
District of Columbia	219	$4.79	$3.28	8
Maine	200	$4.15	$3.24	12
Oregon	177	$6.53	$4.20	7
Alaska	172	$5.47	$3.34	9
New Mexico	166	$4.28	$3.41	6
Rhode Island	147	$4.32	$3.36	6
South Dakota	141	$4.10	$3.33	6
Idaho	131	$3.96	$3.31	4
ZZ	85	$4.40	$3.16	3
Vermont	72	$4.13	$3.30	4
Puerto Rico	29	$4.44	$3.26	2
Wyoming	16	$4.17	$3.39	1

Related codes

88305Pathology examination of tissue$50.75
88341Special stained specimen slides to examine tissue$40.33
88342Special stained specimen slides to examine tissue$58.61
88313Special stained specimen slides to examine tissue including interpreta$43.56
88312Special stained specimen slides to identify organisms including interp$75.82
88307Pathology examination of tissue$84.93
88304Pathology examination of tissue$21.25
88360Microscopic genetic analysis of tumor$59.67
88311Preparation of tissue for examination by removing any calcium present$12.68
88331Pathology examination of specimen during surgery$72.30
88350Antibody evaluation$59.99
88344Special stained specimen slides to examine tissue$100.56

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.