How much does Medicare pay for CPT 88334?

Medicare allowed an average of $35.97 per service and paid $28.62 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $146.14, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 88334?

Pathology cytologic examination of specimen during surgery, each additional site. It was billed 16,085 times to 8,597 Medicare beneficiaries by 375 providers in 2024.

Does 88334 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $37.63 in an office setting and $35.92 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 88334 most?

Pathology, with 15,166 services from 363 clinicians. Next are Clinical Laboratory, Diagnostic Radiology, Emergency Medicine.

CPT 88334

Pathology cytologic examination of specimen during surgery, each additional site

$35.97Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 16,085 services

Providers submitted

$146.14

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$35.97

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$28.62

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $146.14 for this code and Medicare allowed $35.97 — 4.1× 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 $28.62 (80%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $37.63
Hospital / facility: $35.92

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. 448 services were billed in an office setting and 15,637 in a facility.

Services: 16,085
Beneficiaries: 8,597
Providers billing it: 375
Total allowed: $578,577

What Medicare pays for CPT 88334

Across 16,085 services billed by 375 providers to 8,597 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $35.97 per service. That is 1.9 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 88334

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Pathology	15,166	8,102	$36.07	363
Clinical Laboratory	829	438	$34.00	9
Diagnostic Radiology	47	30	$36.25	2
Emergency Medicine	43	27	$36.77	1

88334 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
Illinois	2,483	$36.06	$28.03	48
New York	1,525	$39.45	$28.14	30
California	1,422	$39.00	$27.87	38
North Carolina	814	$34.24	$28.11	14
Texas	728	$35.11	$28.08	19
Virginia	720	$35.34	$28.04	16
Pennsylvania	675	$35.12	$28.10	13
Wisconsin	626	$34.59	$28.09	20
Georgia	598	$35.03	$28.15	22
Arizona	562	$36.04	$29.23	12
Florida	488	$35.48	$28.08	13
Indiana	438	$33.83	$27.88	9
Kansas	372	$34.36	$27.97	8
Hawaii	370	$37.88	$28.11	7
Tennessee	361	$33.40	$27.64	8
Ohio	356	$34.41	$28.14	13
Washington	315	$35.50	$28.14	9
Maryland	287	$36.58	$28.12	7
Iowa	264	$33.99	$27.73	3
North Dakota	257	$34.88	$28.14	4
Massachusetts	243	$36.43	$28.06	9
Utah	233	$35.23	$28.12	7
Kentucky	202	$34.56	$27.98	4
Louisiana	193	$34.04	$28.30	3
Connecticut	186	$36.21	$28.22	6
Alabama	177	$33.80	$28.13	4
Missouri	166	$34.10	$28.19	3
District of Columbia	132	$34.69	$28.34	2
West Virginia	126	$34.02	$28.10	2
Oregon	119	$37.32	$28.09	4
South Carolina	106	$34.41	$28.06	3
Nebraska	106	$34.04	$28.08	1
Minnesota	87	$35.53	$28.11	2
New Jersey	79	$38.31	$28.12	4
New Mexico	63	$35.22	$28.12	1
Arkansas	53	$33.92	$28.16	2
Mississippi	48	$33.56	$28.11	1
Idaho	42	$34.16	$28.18	1
Michigan	35	$36.77	$28.09	1
New Hampshire	16	$35.77	$28.04	1
Colorado	12	$39.00	$28.19	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.