How much does Medicare pay for CPT 92517?

Medicare allowed an average of $74.52 per service and paid $58.38 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $200.44, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 92517?

Vemp testing of lower branch of inner ear nerve with interpretation and report. It was billed 6,921 times to 6,900 Medicare beneficiaries by 210 providers in 2024.

Does 92517 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $75.23 in an office setting and $40.51 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 92517 most?

Audiologist, with 3,186 services from 106 clinicians. Next are Otolaryngology, Neurology, Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF).

CPT 92517

Vemp testing of lower branch of inner ear nerve with interpretation and report

$74.52Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 6,921 services

Providers submitted

$200.44

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$74.52

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$58.38

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $200.44 for this code and Medicare allowed $74.52 — 2.7× 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 $58.38 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $75.23
Hospital / facility: $40.51

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. 6,780 services were billed in an office setting and 141 in a facility.

Services: 6,921
Beneficiaries: 6,900
Providers billing it: 210
Total allowed: $515,753

What Medicare pays for CPT 92517

Across 6,921 services billed by 210 providers to 6,900 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $74.52 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 92517

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Audiologist	3,186	3,177	$71.88	106
Otolaryngology	2,593	2,589	$76.46	86
Neurology	915	910	$77.26	11
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	127	124	$85.57	1
Nurse Practitioner	24	24	$65.63	1
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	20	20	$69.58	1
Speech Language Pathologist	18	18	$75.89	1
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation	16	16	$70.05	1
Physician Assistant	11	11	$62.14	1
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine	11	11	$72.67	1

92517 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	2,509	$75.74	$58.91	83
California	530	$84.13	$59.81	7
Texas	450	$74.20	$59.67	17
Indiana	400	$70.98	$59.86	3
Kansas	318	$70.91	$57.67	5
Arizona	300	$73.79	$58.29	13
Missouri	274	$71.46	$59.19	7
New Jersey	204	$84.14	$58.86	4
Connecticut	197	$83.66	$60.27	3
Ohio	191	$40.26	$32.02	7
Utah	181	$72.82	$58.53	4
Pennsylvania	167	$77.84	$59.96	6
Washington	146	$71.07	$53.08	6
Colorado	107	$78.30	$59.15	6
Massachusetts	92	$71.01	$59.72	1
New York	85	$86.26	$59.34	2
West Virginia	85	$69.26	$60.33	3
Maryland	79	$81.51	$58.97	3
Illinois	77	$75.44	$56.80	4
Alabama	76	$68.60	$58.61	3
Nevada	69	$75.26	$60.17	4
Arkansas	53	$66.18	$58.07	2
Tennessee	52	$69.89	$60.04	2
New Hampshire	50	$71.46	$54.21	2
Minnesota	45	$79.49	$57.66	3
Oklahoma	39	$70.04	$52.10	1
Montana	33	$55.36	$43.19	2
Louisiana	20	$69.58	$60.03	1
North Carolina	19	$68.15	$60.77	1
Georgia	16	$75.59	$58.84	1
Delaware	16	$70.05	$60.28	1
Michigan	15	$74.81	$49.04	1
South Dakota	15	$40.88	$32.62	1
Kentucky	11	$76.32	$60.28	1

Related codes

92557Comprehensive hearing and speech recognition test$36.00
92567Test to assess middle ear function$15.98
92507Treatment of speech$72.06
92504Exam of ear using a microscope$26.45
92526Treatment of swallowing and feeding disorder$84.14
92550Test for eardrum and muscle function$22.10
92588Placement of ear probe for computerized measurement of repeated sounds$33.35
92552Test for hearing various pitches$37.66
92540Evaluation and testing for balance$103.83
92556Test for ability to detect and repeat spoken words$43.60
92537Test to assess balance during warm and cool irrigation in both ears$38.90
92546Test for abnormal eye movement$131.13

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.