Cost analysis for CPT 99443 — Telephone medical discussion with physician, 21-30 minutes
Average Medicare Payment
$80.71
2023 data
Total Payments (2023)
$59.1M
Services (2023)
703.5K
Price Change (2020–2023)
+10.8%
| Year | Avg Payment | Total Payments | Services | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $72.84 | $207.2M | 2.8M | — |
| 2021 | $78.80 | $138.1M | 1.7M | +8.2% |
| 2022 | $79.28 | $88.1M | 1.1M | +0.6% |
| 2023 | $80.71 | $59.1M | 703.5K | +1.8% |
The most expensive state pays 1.7x more than the cheapest for this procedure. AK averages $105.90 vs GU at $61.60.
| State | Avg Payment | Total Payments | Services | Providers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK | $105.90 | $63.2K | 597 | 26 |
| DC | $97.49 | $294.8K | 3.0K | 64 |
| NY | $93.46 | $6.8M | 73.0K | 1.2K |
| NJ | $92.14 | $2.1M | 22.9K | 387 |
| CT | $91.40 | $827.5K | 9.1K | 185 |
| CA | $88.85 | $15.7M | 176.6K | 2.7K |
| IL | $85.93 | $3.1M | 36.0K | 939 |
| FL | $85.08 | $3.0M | 35.5K | 620 |
| RI | $84.07 | $389.5K | 4.6K | 110 |
| MD | $83.18 | $1.4M | 16.7K | 319 |
| MA | $82.51 | $7.4M | 89.1K | 2.0K |
| DE | $82.19 | $149.7K | 1.8K | 48 |
| SC | $82.11 | $196.7K | 2.4K | 66 |
| LA | $81.28 | $291.2K | 3.6K | 51 |
| VA | $80.72 | $842.5K | 10.4K | 251 |
| TX | $80.55 | $3.1M | 39.1K | 742 |
| MN | $80.25 | $623.1K | 7.8K | 315 |
| GA | $80.21 | $520.7K | 6.5K | 142 |
| HI | $80.07 | $78.5K | 980 | 28 |
| WA | $80.01 | $877.7K | 11.0K | 314 |
| CO | $79.15 | $319.0K | 4.0K | 124 |
| NC | $78.16 | $645.7K | 8.3K | 248 |
| PA | $78.16 | $1.2M | 14.8K | 383 |
| MO | $78.11 | $268.6K | 3.4K | 80 |
| SD | $77.09 | $8.9K | 115 | 5 |
| NM | $77.03 | $369.4K | 4.8K | 78 |
| PR | $76.42 | $32.2K | 422 | 12 |
| OK | $76.07 | $481.7K | 6.3K | 75 |
| AZ | $75.32 | $1.3M | 17.6K | 382 |
| NV | $75.13 | $378.8K | 5.0K | 78 |
| TN | $75.02 | $437.6K | 5.8K | 115 |
| WI | $74.78 | $467.3K | 6.2K | 181 |
| WY | $74.67 | $34.5K | 462 | 12 |
| KS | $74.41 | $148.8K | 2.0K | 52 |
| IN | $74.36 | $667.5K | 9.0K | 147 |
| MI | $73.48 | $1.2M | 16.9K | 464 |
| MS | $72.35 | $102.6K | 1.4K | 28 |
| WV | $72.15 | $134.4K | 1.9K | 33 |
| OH | $71.49 | $836.0K | 11.7K | 379 |
| UT | $71.32 | $53.7K | 753 | 28 |
| NH | $70.82 | $410.9K | 5.8K | 193 |
| OR | $70.00 | $448.9K | 6.4K | 213 |
| MT | $69.98 | $139.1K | 2.0K | 59 |
| KY | $69.90 | $259.5K | 3.7K | 61 |
| AR | $69.50 | $219.9K | 3.2K | 70 |
| AL | $68.06 | $302.3K | 4.4K | 103 |
| NE | $67.25 | $93.7K | 1.4K | 29 |
| IA | $66.58 | $12.9K | 194 | 10 |
| VT | $64.70 | $132.4K | 2.0K | 54 |
| ID | $63.24 | $33.5K | 529 | 24 |
| ND | $62.86 | $9.7K | 155 | 8 |
| Provider | Specialty | State | Payments | Services | Avg/Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archis Desai | Internal Medicine | CA | $480.5K | 4.7K | $102.50 |
| George Scherer | Internal Medicine | FL | $237.4K | 2.7K | $88.90 |
| Martin Perlin | Internal Medicine | NY | $195.3K | 1.8K | $108.70 |
| Ajay Patel | Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | CA | $190.2K | 1.9K | $98.92 |
| Timothy Mark | Internal Medicine | FL | $184.6K | 2.2K | $85.52 |
| Glenn Gandelman | Cardiology | CT | $183.9K | 1.7K | $107.68 |
| Manjula Thopcherla | Internal Medicine | NJ | $168.2K | 1.6K | $105.05 |
| Ahra Cho | Internal Medicine | CA | $158.7K | 1.4K | $109.90 |
| Marc Knudsen | Emergency Medicine | OK | $155.0K | 2.3K | $68.42 |
| Kyle Washington | Nurse Practitioner | NY | $152.2K | 1.9K | $79.35 |
| Clifford Baker | Interventional Pain Management | AZ | $149.1K | 1.9K | $79.22 |
| Afshine Emrani | Cardiology | CA | $141.3K | 1.3K | $106.93 |
| Norman Chien | Geriatric Medicine | CA | $132.5K | 1.7K | $79.19 |
| Aniwelyn Tan | Nurse Practitioner | TX | $128.3K | 1.6K | $78.00 |
| Pa Heu | Family Practice | CA | $121.7K | 1.3K | $93.34 |
| Tigalat Shalita | Family Practice | CA | $117.5K | 1.1K | $102.74 |
| Donna Casey | Internal Medicine | TX | $117.1K | 1.1K | $107.96 |
| Bernard Rimler | Internal Medicine | NY | $115.4K | 1.0K | $114.64 |
| Sarabjeet Singh | Cardiology | CA | $113.7K | 1.2K | $91.08 |
| Matthew Lefferman | Internal Medicine | CA | $110.2K | 1.2K | $95.37 |
Based on the data, CPT 99443 shows a 1.7x variation in pricing across states — moderate variation by Medicare standards.
Costs have increased 10.8% since 2020. Medicare's fee schedule attempts to standardize pricing, though some variation is expected due to geographic cost-of-living adjustments and practice expense differences.
This analysis is based on publicly available CMS data and does not account for patient complexity, comorbidities, or facility-specific factors that may justify pricing differences.
Note: All data is from publicly available Medicare records. OpenMedicare is an independent journalism project not affiliated with CMS.