How much does Medicare pay for HCPCS G0268?

Medicare allowed an average of $49.73 per service and paid $36.52 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $132.16, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is HCPCS code G0268?

Removal of impacted cerumen (one or both ears) by physician on same date of service as audiologic function testing. It was billed 146,383 times to 139,752 Medicare beneficiaries by 2,413 providers in 2024.

Does G0268 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $49.96 in an office setting and $29.33 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 G0268 most?

Otolaryngology, with 122,603 services from 1,858 clinicians. Next are Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, Internal Medicine.

HCPCS G0268

Removal of impacted cerumen (one or both ears) by physician on same date of service as audiologic function testing

$49.73Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 146,383 services

Providers submitted

$132.16

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$49.73

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$36.52

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $132.16 for this code and Medicare allowed $49.73 — 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 $36.52 (73%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $49.96
Hospital / facility: $29.33

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. 144,760 services were billed in an office setting and 1,623 in a facility.

Services: 146,383
Beneficiaries: 139,752
Providers billing it: 2,413
Total allowed: $7,279,627

What Medicare pays for HCPCS G0268

Across 146,383 services billed by 2,413 providers to 139,752 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $49.73 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 G0268

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Otolaryngology	122,603	117,009	$51.21	1,858
Physician Assistant	14,236	13,695	$41.66	346
Nurse Practitioner	8,611	8,164	$42.06	181
Internal Medicine	245	212	$50.95	8
Family Practice	202	192	$43.66	8
Neurology	124	122	$53.13	2
Audiologist	110	109	$49.12	4
Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery	77	77	$49.87	1
Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine	66	65	$49.04	1
General Surgery	64	64	$51.35	2
General Practice	23	21	$55.89	1
Pediatric Medicine	22	22	$49.77	1

G0268 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	33,660	$53.86	$33.28	255
Florida	18,321	$47.89	$33.38	273
Pennsylvania	11,807	$47.64	$33.86	161
New Jersey	11,437	$54.48	$35.79	139
Texas	9,875	$47.75	$34.97	222
California	7,319	$52.48	$34.71	127
Arizona	5,955	$46.91	$34.93	58
Illinois	3,883	$51.07	$35.07	75
South Carolina	3,329	$46.40	$35.73	64
Massachusetts	2,977	$50.31	$33.94	67
North Carolina	2,856	$46.74	$35.07	103
Tennessee	2,834	$43.93	$34.47	75
Maryland	2,777	$51.83	$35.29	48
Alabama	2,742	$44.29	$36.08	64
Michigan	2,624	$45.49	$32.31	58
Connecticut	2,607	$56.57	$35.85	34
Virginia	2,403	$46.65	$33.40	53
Georgia	2,235	$47.71	$34.84	72
Ohio	2,015	$45.81	$33.85	66
Oklahoma	1,358	$44.30	$33.63	8
Louisiana	1,265	$45.46	$33.81	45
Missouri	1,213	$45.29	$34.62	38
Washington	1,133	$49.72	$33.23	27
Iowa	1,043	$43.26	$33.21	27
Kentucky	1,034	$45.59	$36.95	34
Indiana	1,026	$41.33	$31.33	34
Colorado	897	$46.89	$32.23	25
Arkansas	733	$43.32	$34.41	16
Nevada	663	$47.60	$36.99	14
Mississippi	655	$40.97	$32.33	20
New Mexico	544	$48.49	$34.53	5
Rhode Island	443	$49.72	$35.92	9
Delaware	332	$48.88	$33.16	13
Kansas	327	$44.06	$33.73	12
Wisconsin	323	$43.17	$32.47	13
Nebraska	312	$46.30	$33.45	6
Oregon	297	$47.35	$36.19	12
New Hampshire	260	$31.72	$20.99	13
District of Columbia	257	$48.87	$36.85	1
Wyoming	136	$49.46	$36.52	4
Hawaii	83	$45.92	$29.56	2
South Dakota	82	$45.88	$31.77	4
Vermont	77	$27.09	$20.27	4
Maine	74	$43.11	$29.89	4
Minnesota	64	$43.74	$32.76	4
West Virginia	30	$40.43	$33.65	1
Utah	29	$41.86	$32.48	2
Idaho	24	$47.26	$29.41	1
Montana	13	$44.03	$29.48	1

Related codes

G0283Electrical stimulation (unattended)$8.75
G0279Diagnostic digital breast tomosynthesis$33.24
G0249Provision of test materials and equipment for home inr monitoring of p$87.99
G0277Hyperbaric oxygen under pressure$182.01
G0260Injection procedure for sacroiliac joint; provision of anesthetic$292.85
G0238Therapeutic procedures to improve respiratory function$10.50
G0270Medical nutrition therapy; reassessment and subsequent intervention(s)$26.66
G0250Physician review$8.26
G0296Counseling visit to discuss need for lung cancer screening$24.73
G0237Therapeutic procedures to increase strength or endurance of respirator$12.17
G0239Therapeutic procedures to improve respiratory function or increase str$13.67
G0247Routine foot care by a physician of a diabetic patient$67.85

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.