How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88333?

Medicare allowed an average of $59.23 per service and paid $46.98 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $234.51, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88333?

Pathology cytologic examination of specimen during surgery, initial site. It was billed 42,862 times to 38,319 Medicare beneficiaries by 1,384 providers in 2024.

Does 88333 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $64.46 in an office setting and $59.02 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 88333 most?

Pathology, with 41,044 services from 1,359 clinicians. Next are Clinical Laboratory, Dermatology, Diagnostic Radiology.

CPT 88333

Pathology cytologic examination of specimen during surgery, initial site

$59.23Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 42,862 services

Providers submitted

$234.51

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$59.23

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$46.98

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $234.51 for this code and Medicare allowed $59.23 — 4.0× 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 $46.98 (79%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $64.46
Hospital / facility: $59.02

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. 1,608 services were billed in an office setting and 41,254 in a facility.

Services: 42,862
Beneficiaries: 38,319
Providers billing it: 1,384
Total allowed: $2,538,716

What Medicare pays for CPT 88333

Across 42,862 services billed by 1,384 providers to 38,319 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $59.23 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 88333

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Pathology	41,044	36,780	$59.30	1,359
Clinical Laboratory	1,579	1,322	$55.72	19
Dermatology	89	76	$85.92	1
Diagnostic Radiology	72	68	$59.12	3
General Practice	40	37	$60.15	1
Emergency Medicine	38	36	$60.80	1

88333 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	4,426	$64.80	$46.96	85
California	3,710	$63.90	$46.21	136
Texas	3,569	$57.31	$46.09	138
Illinois	2,996	$59.21	$46.16	90
Pennsylvania	2,570	$58.58	$45.97	72
Virginia	2,456	$58.49	$46.03	63
Florida	2,141	$59.72	$47.48	70
Washington	1,597	$56.76	$44.44	48
Tennessee	1,482	$55.69	$45.78	47
Indiana	1,333	$56.21	$46.02	41
Georgia	1,243	$57.18	$46.26	42
Ohio	1,169	$57.13	$46.07	53
North Carolina	1,142	$56.70	$45.96	37
New Jersey	1,011	$63.16	$46.59	38
Arizona	924	$61.75	$49.70	25
Kentucky	901	$56.57	$46.08	28
Louisiana	837	$56.32	$46.15	13
Wisconsin	826	$57.26	$45.75	37
Iowa	810	$57.14	$46.49	20
Colorado	713	$59.09	$46.16	31
Maryland	711	$60.10	$46.12	22
Minnesota	600	$58.16	$45.87	27
South Carolina	523	$56.54	$45.63	22
Alabama	508	$55.64	$45.96	12
Massachusetts	452	$61.00	$45.78	21
Hawaii	434	$62.25	$46.24	15
Utah	353	$57.88	$46.11	10
West Virginia	333	$57.27	$46.02	14
Missouri	318	$57.63	$46.03	12
Kansas	300	$54.17	$44.72	13
Nebraska	294	$56.39	$45.77	12
Arkansas	213	$55.78	$45.98	12
Oklahoma	203	$54.90	$46.55	5
North Dakota	195	$57.24	$46.18	7
Connecticut	164	$58.43	$46.16	7
Idaho	162	$55.95	$46.12	5
Mississippi	152	$55.82	$46.10	7
New Mexico	152	$58.32	$46.62	4
Montana	151	$55.39	$46.31	6
South Dakota	134	$57.98	$45.64	5
Michigan	132	$58.17	$46.34	7
Oregon	122	$58.55	$45.20	6
Nevada	105	$58.03	$46.31	6
District of Columbia	95	$59.28	$46.44	4
Rhode Island	65	$59.77	$46.30	4
Delaware	54	$57.66	$46.33	3
New Hampshire	46	$59.05	$46.14	1
Vermont	35	$57.06	$44.76	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.