U.S. physician groups charged Medicare about $1,125 for the average bronchoscopy service in 2024 — and were paid about $76
The services-weighted average of $1,125 is pulled up by a right tail: the median group lists about $638, while the highest-listing tenth list about $1,697 or more.
The gap widened over 2020 to 2024 — from about 10.9 to about 14.8 times as much billed as paid.
Charged about 14.8 times what it paid: for the average bronchoscopy service in 2024, these groups billed about $1,125 and Medicare paid about $76.
The gap is a list price set against a fee schedule. Submitted charges are amounts each group sets on its own. Medicare pays its allowed amount for the service, whatever the list price.
Medicare is one payer. The submitted charge is a list price, and a higher one does not raise Medicare's payment. The gap measures a list price against one payer's schedule, from Medicare claims only. It says nothing about what any other payer pays.
The figure counts one service, averaged. It covers charges and payments attributed to named physician groups; volume from groups too small to attribute is left out.
A record of what was billed and what Medicare paid — not a verdict on price, value, or fairness. The charge is a list amount each group sets; the payment is the fee schedule's fixed amount.
The average submitted charge and the average Medicare payment per bronchoscopy service, across named physician groups, in 2024.
Not a total-spending figure and not all-payer.