How much does Medicare pay for CPT 93978?

Medicare allowed an average of $144.08 per service and paid $109.11 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $442.10, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 93978?

Complete ultrasound of aorta, vena cava, groin vessels or bypass grafts. It was billed 223,240 times to 207,208 Medicare beneficiaries by 4,113 providers in 2024.

Does 93978 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $163.16 in an office setting and $37.01 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 93978 most?

Vascular Surgery, with 91,587 services from 1,702 clinicians. Next are Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Interventional Cardiology.

CPT 93978

Complete ultrasound of aorta, vena cava, groin vessels or bypass grafts

$144.08Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 223,240 services

Providers submitted

$442.10

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$144.08

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$109.11

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $442.10 for this code and Medicare allowed $144.08 — 3.1× 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 $109.11 (76%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $163.16
Hospital / facility: $37.01

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. 189,470 services were billed in an office setting and 33,770 in a facility.

Services: 223,240
Beneficiaries: 207,208
Providers billing it: 4,113
Total allowed: $32,164,419

What Medicare pays for CPT 93978

Across 223,240 services billed by 4,113 providers to 207,208 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $144.08 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 93978

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Vascular Surgery	91,587	82,063	$130.34	1,702
Cardiology	55,182	53,244	$158.44	991
Internal Medicine	15,051	14,404	$163.64	266
Interventional Cardiology	11,672	11,268	$143.72	276
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	11,584	10,854	$165.01	119
Diagnostic Radiology	10,039	9,830	$114.91	279
General Surgery	8,940	7,939	$136.21	171
Family Practice	3,749	3,499	$162.84	65
Interventional Radiology	3,049	2,586	$148.09	57
Nurse Practitioner	2,205	2,079	$162.57	31
General Practice	1,911	1,820	$192.93	18
Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology	1,737	1,540	$168.18	15
Peripheral Vascular Disease	993	952	$56.71	22
Thoracic Surgery	887	781	$133.56	21
Cardiac Surgery	854	748	$150.63	19

93978 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	32,353	$175.99	$116.08	453
California	31,506	$183.61	$121.51	367
Florida	18,454	$150.32	$111.95	338
New Jersey	12,897	$170.20	$113.76	252
Pennsylvania	10,735	$104.72	$75.16	244
Maryland	9,701	$158.83	$109.35	116
Texas	8,880	$133.80	$103.23	231
Arizona	7,970	$153.26	$117.78	146
Washington	6,269	$110.28	$75.67	85
Georgia	6,265	$130.69	$98.56	136
North Carolina	6,169	$135.54	$106.61	131
Illinois	5,907	$118.71	$82.80	133
Michigan	5,709	$129.70	$96.92	137
Virginia	5,357	$132.69	$94.54	111
Massachusetts	4,703	$107.61	$74.28	91
South Carolina	4,637	$104.53	$79.79	98
Tennessee	4,589	$119.87	$96.52	80
Ohio	4,351	$64.02	$45.80	120
Hawaii	2,453	$161.83	$115.16	12
Connecticut	2,268	$172.09	$114.50	52
Louisiana	2,232	$133.87	$107.95	59
Delaware	2,181	$135.34	$99.32	27
Alabama	2,116	$137.70	$114.53	54
Indiana	2,045	$107.51	$80.25	47
Missouri	1,835	$94.33	$68.63	46
Kentucky	1,712	$86.31	$66.63	40
Nevada	1,660	$145.08	$111.02	27
Oregon	1,655	$132.05	$95.42	36
Iowa	1,527	$81.56	$64.14	31
Minnesota	1,388	$97.13	$65.00	45
Colorado	1,384	$148.28	$107.66	37
Wisconsin	1,268	$78.39	$58.20	49
Oklahoma	1,244	$72.08	$57.70	32
Mississippi	1,217	$117.31	$97.14	31
Kansas	1,058	$120.57	$92.19	21
Nebraska	824	$85.50	$67.93	20
Arkansas	786	$105.59	$87.49	13
Idaho	677	$55.41	$40.09	16
Rhode Island	618	$121.15	$84.39	15
West Virginia	607	$48.92	$34.98	17
District of Columbia	582	$168.85	$111.91	12
South Dakota	571	$66.85	$48.44	18
New Hampshire	563	$44.92	$29.39	22
Maine	547	$111.58	$75.03	10
New Mexico	513	$71.00	$53.24	17
Alaska	505	$124.02	$79.17	12
Montana	202	$161.51	$117.01	5
Utah	175	$148.85	$118.69	7
Wyoming	104	$169.60	$118.31	2
XX	84	$200.93	$134.37	1
North Dakota	66	$35.02	$25.21	3
Vermont	53	$35.04	$26.86	4
Puerto Rico	41	$154.55	$116.89	2
Guam	27	$193.62	$96.17	2

Related codes

93971Ultrasound study of one arm or leg veins$51.34
93970Ultrasound study of arm or leg veins$96.22
93925Ultrasound of leg arteries or artery grafts$179.07
93922Ultrasound study of arm and leg arteries$54.80
93923Complete ultrasound study of arm and leg arteries$95.57
93926Ultrasound of one leg arteries or artery grafts$73.51
93975Complete ultrasound of abdomen and pelvis artery and vein blood flow$173.24
93976Ultrasound of abdomen and pelvis artery and vein blood flow$86.57
93990Ultrasound of hemodialysis access$103.15
93979Ultrasound of aorta$89.63
93924Ultrasound of leg arteries at rest and after exercise$138.34
93931Ultrasound of one arm arteries or artery grafts$69.61

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.