How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88332?

Medicare allowed an average of $45.36 per service and paid $36.28 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $124.89, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88332?

Pathology examination of specimen during surgery, each additional tissue block. It was billed 88,216 times to 21,359 Medicare beneficiaries by 524 providers in 2024.

Does 88332 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $52.14 in an office setting and $29.26 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 88332 most?

Pathology, with 55,102 services from 382 clinicians. Next are Dermatology, Clinical Laboratory, Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery.

CPT 88332

Pathology examination of specimen during surgery, each additional tissue block

$45.36Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 88,216 services

Providers submitted

$124.89

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$45.36

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$36.28

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $124.89 for this code and Medicare allowed $45.36 — 2.8× 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 $36.28 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $52.14
Hospital / facility: $29.26

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. 62,083 services were billed in an office setting and 26,133 in a facility.

Services: 88,216
Beneficiaries: 21,359
Providers billing it: 524
Total allowed: $4,001,478

What Medicare pays for CPT 88332

Across 88,216 services billed by 524 providers to 21,359 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $45.36 per service. That is 4.1 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 88332

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Pathology	55,102	12,283	$41.97	382
Dermatology	18,789	5,539	$52.16	80
Clinical Laboratory	7,491	2,336	$46.12	37
Micrographic Dermatologic Surgery	6,525	1,082	$54.14	20
Dentist	92	24	$26.22	1
Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology	92	21	$29.57	1
Ophthalmology	47	19	$30.20	1
Undefined Physician type	47	30	$56.35	1
Gastroenterology	31	25	$24.16	1

88332 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	43,563	$51.87	$41.57	82
Minnesota	11,431	$30.09	$23.00	26
Illinois	3,998	$46.51	$38.76	20
Arizona	3,371	$37.11	$29.64	32
Texas	3,353	$37.32	$29.69	48
California	2,295	$49.60	$35.51	35
Virginia	1,888	$49.33	$35.65	22
Arkansas	1,841	$44.36	$39.10	9
Pennsylvania	1,546	$36.17	$28.96	22
Massachusetts	1,528	$52.65	$39.21	15
Alabama	1,368	$46.04	$41.62	5
North Carolina	1,023	$31.45	$25.91	11
Tennessee	1,009	$47.93	$40.90	6
Maryland	953	$47.65	$35.95	15
New Jersey	928	$49.92	$36.69	12
Kentucky	809	$43.22	$35.84	11
Indiana	791	$44.20	$37.27	11
New York	764	$45.96	$33.08	17
Georgia	604	$38.05	$31.40	11
Nebraska	463	$28.75	$23.87	11
Ohio	452	$33.99	$27.99	11
Delaware	409	$34.97	$28.34	10
Wisconsin	377	$31.43	$25.14	7
Maine	343	$25.86	$21.36	4
Kansas	323	$24.52	$23.26	6
Louisiana	304	$28.49	$24.10	7
Iowa	302	$28.94	$24.02	8
Idaho	298	$48.60	$41.36	4
Mississippi	287	$43.28	$37.86	5
South Carolina	273	$34.15	$28.45	7
Oregon	200	$48.36	$38.37	3
Colorado	180	$33.05	$24.83	5
Nevada	128	$56.15	$42.48	2
West Virginia	126	$29.08	$23.01	3
Oklahoma	111	$33.68	$27.81	3
Connecticut	86	$41.42	$31.12	2
Michigan	80	$29.11	$22.96	2
South Dakota	68	$28.55	$22.91	3
Missouri	54	$28.35	$22.95	2
Montana	53	$36.58	$29.15	2
District of Columbia	52	$27.28	$22.88	1
North Dakota	44	$28.69	$22.90	1
Vermont	37	$28.54	$18.60	1
Washington	35	$28.90	$22.85	1
New Hampshire	28	$29.08	$21.98	1
New Mexico	22	$26.03	$22.96	1
Utah	18	$27.64	$22.80	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.