Data Analysis
Medicare Costs by Specialty in California
Medicare reimbursement rates vary significantly across medical specialties. This analysis examines average Medicare payments per service for providers in California, ranked by reimbursement level. Understanding these differences helps contextualize specialty costs and resource allocation across the healthcare system.
Context: Industry payments to physicians are legally required to be disclosed under the Physician Payments Sunshine Act.
Receiving payments does not imply wrongdoing. Payments may reflect consulting expertise, research participation, or speaking engagements.
This data is provided to support transparency, not to render clinical judgments.
Average Medicare Payment by Specialty — California
CMS Open Payments| # | Specialty | Avg Medicare Payment | Providers | Total Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pediatric Transplant Hepatology Physician | $1,724 | 1 | 14 |
| 2 | Periodontics | $472 | 3 | 3,564 |
| 3 | Dentist | $349 | 44 | 14,677 |
| 4 | Dentist - General Practice | $347 | 39 | 20,930 |
| 5 | Phlebology Physician | $280 | 5 | 4,096 |
| 6 | Prosthodontics | $264 | 4 | 1,339 |
| 7 | Plastic Surgery | $241 | 155 | 119,754 |
| 8 | Vascular Surgery Physician | $184 | 236 | 275,816 |
| 9 | Geriatric Medicine (Family Medicine) Physician | $176 | 85 | 175,140 |
| 10 | Critical Care Medicine (Obstetrics & Gynecology) Physician | $171 | 2 | 486 |
| 11 | Transplant Surgery Physician | $167 | 59 | 18,813 |
| 12 | Pediatric Surgery | $165 | 2 | 239 |
| 13 | Physical Disabilities Residential Treatment Facility | $164 | 1 | 22 |
| 14 | Thoracic Surgery | $161 | 232 | 130,418 |
| 15 | Military Hospital | $158 | 1 | 446 |
| 16 | Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (D.M.D.) | $158 | 5 | 446 |
| 17 | Portable X-ray and/or Other Portable Diagnostic Imaging Supplier | $157 | 1 | 967 |
| 18 | Surgical Technologist | $153 | 1 | 418 |
| 19 | Complex Family Planning Physician | $143 | 1 | 11 |
| 20 | Surgery | $138 | 1,532 | 837,350 |
| 21 | Vascular Specialist/Technologist Cardiovascular | $134 | 1 | 3,175 |
| 22 | Intermediate Emergency Medical Technician | $134 | 1 | 269 |
| 23 | Plastic Surgery Within the Head and Neck (Plastic Surgery) Physician | $133 | 10 | 12,646 |
| 24 | Anesthesiologist Assistant | $130 | 1 | 14 |
| 25 | Pediatric Anesthesiology Physician | $128 | 38 | 2,882 |
| 26 | Critical Access Hospital | $128 | 3 | 152 |
| 27 | Colon & Rectal Surgery | $127 | 85 | 42,306 |
| 28 | Clinical Genetics (M.D.) Physician | $127 | 10 | 1,290 |
| 29 | Critical Care Medicine (Anesthesiology) Physician | $127 | 97 | 24,069 |
| 30 | Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Dentistry | $124 | 1 | 13 |
State payment context — California
CMS Open PaymentsAcross 160,322 California providers with at least one disclosed industry payment over 2018–2024, the median provider received $327 in total payments, compared with a national median of $339 across 1,571,086 paid providers.
California accounts for 13.7% of the $16,205,257,917 in industry payments recorded nationwide in this database, and its per-provider median runs below the national benchmark.
Top specialties by median industry payment — California
| Specialty | Median per provider | Providers paid | Total payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Physician | $19,351 | 126 | $7,634,654 |
| Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine Physician | $12,955 | 222 | $106,580,194 |
| Adult Reconstructive Orthopaedic Surgery Physician | $8,868 | 127 | $23,118,495 |
| Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery (Urology) Physician | $8,535 | 25 | $675,211 |
| Orthopaedic Trauma Physician | $8,287 | 84 | $7,466,740 |
Industry payments in California by year
| Year | Total payments | Providers paid | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $285,514,170 | 69,469 | 1,100,445 |
| 2019 | $305,060,781 | 68,299 | 1,088,151 |
| 2020 | $249,677,852 | 53,317 | 606,309 |
| 2021 | $297,618,483 | 72,397 | 1,041,010 |
| 2022 | $460,782,116 | 82,089 | 1,182,066 |
| 2023 | $321,590,087 | 87,851 | 1,273,438 |
| 2024 | $301,134,380 | 93,710 | 1,368,375 |
Methodology
Average Medicare payment per service calculated from Medicare Part B Utilization data for providers licensed in California. Only specialties with at least one recorded procedure are included. Average reflects the mean of per-service payment amounts across all procedures within each specialty grouping, not total expenditure. Data source: CMS Medicare Part B Utilization, accessed via doctransparency.com database.