How much does Medicare pay for CPT 93888?

Medicare allowed an average of $100.38 per service and paid $78.47 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $286.69, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 93888?

Ultrasound of within the brain blood flow. It was billed 5,914 times to 5,386 Medicare beneficiaries by 72 providers in 2024.

Does 93888 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $110.34 in an office setting and $25.91 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 93888 most?

Cardiology, with 1,819 services from 11 clinicians. Next are Neurology, Internal Medicine, Family Practice.

CPT 93888

Ultrasound of within the brain blood flow

$100.38Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 5,914 services

Providers submitted

$286.69

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$100.38

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$78.47

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $286.69 for this code and Medicare allowed $100.38 — 2.9× 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 $78.47 (78%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $110.34
Hospital / facility: $25.91

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. 5,216 services were billed in an office setting and 698 in a facility.

Services: 5,914
Beneficiaries: 5,386
Providers billing it: 72
Total allowed: $593,647

What Medicare pays for CPT 93888

Across 5,914 services billed by 72 providers to 5,386 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $100.38 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 93888

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Cardiology	1,819	1,784	$121.74	11
Neurology	1,625	1,323	$93.45	29
Internal Medicine	1,194	1,107	$68.47	10
Family Practice	496	410	$89.42	7
Diagnostic Radiology	332	329	$132.81	5
Interventional Radiology	168	160	$128.52	2
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	114	111	$128.30	2
Interventional Cardiology	90	89	$62.26	2
General Surgery	48	47	$118.83	2
Vascular Surgery	16	15	$143.69	1
Psychiatry	12	11	$25.61	1

93888 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	3,182	$93.43	$76.70	21
New York	1,298	$104.72	$70.63	19
Nevada	392	$123.13	$99.68	7
South Carolina	200	$105.46	$80.31	2
New Jersey	185	$133.12	$90.96	6
Massachusetts	151	$25.64	$18.76	4
Michigan	136	$124.95	$96.50	1
Illinois	132	$114.35	$78.15	3
California	82	$151.18	$101.03	3
Maryland	43	$150.01	$86.68	1
Texas	36	$118.05	$97.94	1
Pennsylvania	25	$23.01	$18.74	1
Virginia	24	$142.53	$93.16	1
Utah	16	$120.29	$80.48	1
Minnesota	12	$121.15	$104.16	1

Related codes

93880Ultrasound of both sides of head and neck blood flow$124.56
93886Complete ultrasound of within the brain blood flow$242.67
93892Ultrasound of within the brain blood flow for blood clots$163.38
93890Ultrasound of within the brain blood flow following medication$249.23
93882Ultrasound of one side of head and neck blood flow$89.81
93893Ultrasound of within the brain blood flow for blood clots$108.15

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.