Data Analysis
Medicare Costs by Specialty in Georgia
Medicare reimbursement rates vary significantly across medical specialties. This analysis examines average Medicare payments per service for providers in Georgia, 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 — Georgia
CMS Open Payments| # | Specialty | Avg Medicare Payment | Providers | Total Services |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dentist | $421 | 3 | 425 |
| 2 | Geriatric Medicine (Family Medicine) Physician | $344 | 15 | 34,439 |
| 3 | Phlebology Physician | $235 | 1 | 451 |
| 4 | Thoracic Surgery | $221 | 72 | 23,726 |
| 5 | Transplant Surgery Physician | $213 | 20 | 2,794 |
| 6 | Nuclear Medicine | $164 | 9 | 8,457 |
| 7 | MOHS-Micrographic Surgery Physician | $152 | 21 | 75,997 |
| 8 | Other Specialist/Technologist | $146 | 1 | 83 |
| 9 | Critical Care Medicine (Obstetrics & Gynecology) Physician | $141 | 1 | 148 |
| 10 | Plastic Surgery Within the Head and Neck (Plastic Surgery) Physician | $138 | 2 | 1,979 |
| 11 | Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Physician | $138 | 1 | 249 |
| 12 | Vascular Surgery | $130 | 23 | 4,496 |
| 13 | Vascular Neurology Physician | $128 | 8 | 2,332 |
| 14 | Neurocritical Care Physician | $126 | 9 | 1,931 |
| 15 | Clinical Genetics (M.D.) Physician | $123 | 2 | 360 |
| 16 | Gynecologic Oncology Physician | $121 | 21 | 4,129 |
| 17 | Addiction Medicine (Anesthesiology) Physician | $119 | 2 | 425 |
| 18 | Radiology - Diagnostic | $118 | 97 | 163,550 |
| 19 | Surgical Oncology Physician | $116 | 23 | 4,718 |
| 20 | Sleep Medicine (Family Medicine) Physician | $114 | 4 | 2,174 |
| 21 | Gerontology Nurse Practitioner | $113 | 111 | 65,665 |
| 22 | Hospice and Palliative Medicine (Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation) Physician | $110 | 1 | 254 |
| 23 | Mental Health Clinic/Center (Including Community Mental Health Center) | $107 | 1 | 92 |
| 24 | Sports Medicine (Psychiatry & Neurology) Physician | $104 | 1 | 55 |
| 25 | Durable Medical Equipment | $104 | 2 | 4,114 |
| 26 | Hospice and Palliative Medicine (Emergency Medicine) Physician | $103 | 1 | 161 |
| 27 | Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Physician | $101 | 1 | 777 |
| 28 | Colon & Rectal Surgery | $100 | 38 | 10,556 |
| 29 | Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine (Preventive Medicine) Physician | $99 | 7 | 8,858 |
| 30 | Cognitive & Behavioral Psychologist | $99 | 1 | 383 |
State payment context — Georgia
CMS Open PaymentsAcross 48,760 Georgia providers with at least one disclosed industry payment over 2018–2024, the median provider received $399 in total payments, compared with a national median of $339 across 1,571,086 paid providers.
Georgia accounts for 2.5% of the $16,205,257,917 in industry payments recorded nationwide in this database, and its per-provider median runs above the national benchmark.
Top specialties by median industry payment — Georgia
| Specialty | Median per provider | Providers paid | Total payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orthopaedic Surgery of the Spine Physician | $16,006 | 46 | $10,150,397 |
| Hematology | $14,252 | 28 | $3,138,689 |
| Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Physician | $13,970 | 37 | $1,881,199 |
| Interventional Cardiology | $6,755 | 104 | $3,159,969 |
| Vascular Surgery Physician | $5,252 | 140 | $1,826,929 |
Industry payments in Georgia by year
| Year | Total payments | Providers paid | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $60,365,005 | 18,491 | 356,031 |
| 2019 | $59,935,600 | 18,452 | 345,862 |
| 2020 | $34,758,266 | 15,426 | 215,560 |
| 2021 | $47,005,766 | 26,942 | 458,876 |
| 2022 | $71,957,552 | 29,102 | 509,742 |
| 2023 | $64,685,526 | 31,060 | 554,082 |
| 2024 | $67,673,753 | 32,852 | 590,277 |
Methodology
Average Medicare payment per service calculated from Medicare Part B Utilization data for providers licensed in Georgia. 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.