How much does Medicare pay for CPT 93985?

Medicare allowed an average of $176.75 per service and paid $136.09 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $574.94, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 93985?

Complete ultrasound of artery and vein blood flow pre-op assessment on both sides of body for hemodialysis access. It was billed 9,014 times to 8,868 Medicare beneficiaries by 389 providers in 2024.

Does 93985 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $231.04 in an office setting and $46.33 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 93985 most?

Vascular Surgery, with 4,559 services from 225 clinicians. Next are Nephrology, General Surgery, Diagnostic Radiology.

CPT 93985

Complete ultrasound of artery and vein blood flow pre-op assessment on both sides of body for hemodialysis access

$176.75Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 9,014 services

Providers submitted

$574.94

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$176.75

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$136.09

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $574.94 for this code and Medicare allowed $176.75 — 3.3× 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 $136.09 (77%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $231.04
Hospital / facility: $46.33

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. 6,365 services were billed in an office setting and 2,649 in a facility.

Services: 9,014
Beneficiaries: 8,868
Providers billing it: 389
Total allowed: $1,593,225

What Medicare pays for CPT 93985

Across 9,014 services billed by 389 providers to 8,868 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $176.75 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 93985

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Vascular Surgery	4,559	4,482	$175.49	225
Nephrology	1,734	1,713	$221.90	49
General Surgery	1,093	1,065	$175.32	45
Diagnostic Radiology	488	483	$121.46	27
Ambulatory Surgical Center	334	334	$116.17	12
Interventional Radiology	322	317	$124.23	15
Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF)	172	167	$198.99	3
Cardiology	91	89	$156.84	3
Internal Medicine	78	76	$161.08	4
Physician Assistant	59	59	$189.93	1
Nurse Practitioner	23	23	$190.37	1
Thoracic Surgery	19	19	$33.73	1
General Practice	16	16	$36.61	1
Interventional Cardiology	14	13	$34.94	1
Cardiac Surgery	12	12	$31.47	1

93985 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
California	1,293	$252.78	$168.55	40
Texas	802	$188.58	$147.40	34
Florida	704	$191.85	$146.66	27
Arizona	579	$220.30	$172.89	14
Michigan	371	$210.53	$164.77	17
Virginia	347	$121.00	$89.49	14
New York	297	$211.28	$150.58	11
Georgia	263	$212.99	$165.82	15
Louisiana	262	$121.05	$103.38	10
Tennessee	239	$124.63	$103.97	14
Illinois	237	$174.21	$136.51	9
South Carolina	233	$178.17	$149.29	6
New Jersey	227	$220.49	$149.39	12
Kansas	224	$125.54	$104.10	10
North Carolina	212	$177.66	$141.94	7
Kentucky	202	$129.53	$107.42	10
Pennsylvania	201	$57.85	$43.82	9
Missouri	199	$88.58	$69.43	12
Maryland	181	$175.85	$127.83	9
Indiana	156	$122.27	$100.47	9
Connecticut	136	$170.00	$121.56	5
Massachusetts	136	$110.61	$85.56	8
Idaho	129	$33.99	$25.61	5
Delaware	125	$60.81	$45.31	7
Wisconsin	112	$77.92	$62.63	7
Alabama	110	$155.55	$141.91	7
Washington	104	$230.81	$158.87	7
Ohio	93	$186.55	$149.61	5
Mississippi	89	$51.66	$42.41	6
Minnesota	86	$238.68	$177.88	6
Alaska	84	$261.62	$179.03	2
South Dakota	78	$104.39	$81.51	4
Arkansas	75	$149.77	$133.41	4
Nevada	66	$201.29	$155.00	3
Oklahoma	63	$108.82	$86.48	4
New Mexico	50	$89.79	$70.79	4
West Virginia	48	$91.10	$71.95	4
Colorado	39	$152.74	$127.52	3
Iowa	37	$125.77	$98.06	2
Guam	26	$264.34	$167.63	1
Utah	24	$228.48	$169.04	1
Hawaii	21	$247.89	$195.78	1
Maine	15	$38.66	$26.79	1
District of Columbia	14	$39.69	$25.35	1
Rhode Island	13	$189.50	$149.62	1
Nebraska	12	$221.22	$191.04	1

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
93978Complete ultrasound of aorta$144.08
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

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.