In 2024, Medicaid providers in Salisbury billed $733,445 for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This total represents a 27.1% rise from 2023, when claims for the same services reached $577,180.
Medicaid, jointly operated by states and the federal government, is a public health insurance program that covers low-income residents, families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. The program plays a major role in the U.S. health care system.
Because taxpayers fund Medicaid payments, changes in local billing help illustrate how public dollars are being spent on health care across communities.
The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” service group represents a selection of Medicaid claims identified by standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Analyses assign each billing code to one category based on consistent code prefixes and number ranges. This approach helps compare similar services, prevents duplicate counts, and maintains accurate ranking trends.
Amid overall growth across categories, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures ranked as Salisbury’s eighth-largest category for Medicaid dollars in 2024.
At the state level in North Carolina, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures was the sixth-largest category by Medicaid payments that year.
Salisbury saw a $317,050, or 76.1%, increase in Medicaid payments tied to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures over the five years prior to 2024. Accelerated growth occurred in certain years, with significant increases noted in 2022 and 2023.
Medicaid spending for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures was spread through Salisbury but concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, the ZIP code 28144 led with $675,437 in Medicaid payments, followed by 28147 with $54,520, and 28146 with $3,487. Combined, these 3 ZIP codes comprised all Medicaid payments for this service category in the city for 2024.
Within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category, a small set of billing codes accounted for the majority of Medicaid payments in Salisbury.
In Salisbury, Medicaid outlays for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures increased 27.1% from 2023 to 2024. Across all Medicaid categories citywide, the comparable gain was 20.2% in the same period.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, nationwide Medicaid spending was roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up about 18% of U.S. health outlays, and sharply up from approximately $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This growth equates to about a 40% increase over several years, largely attributed to increased enrollment and use during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration include notable federal Medicaid spending reduction plans and restructuring efforts. As an example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is set to cut over $1 trillion in federal Medicaid funding in the next decade. Policies such as work requirements and higher out-of-pocket costs may reduce coverage and payments for certain beneficiaries, pushing more costs to states while restricting federal funding growth as Medicaid continues to cover millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $416,395 | -18.3% |
| 2021 | $411,883 | -1.1% |
| 2022 | $470,333 | 14.2% |
| 2023 | $577,179 | 22.7% |
| 2024 | $733,445 | 27.1% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $10,607,811 | 29.8% |
| 2 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $6,992,732 | 19.6% |
| 3 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $6,224,148 | 17.5% |
| 4 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $4,613,396 | 13% |
| 5 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $3,594,900 | 10.1% |
| 6 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $1,365,863 | 3.8% |
| 7 | Dental Services | $809,290 | 2.3% |
| 8 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $733,445 | 2.1% |
| 9 | Radiology Procedures | $363,788 | 1% |
| 10 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $118,139 | 0.3% |
| 11 | Surgery | $85,764 | 0.2% |
| 12 | Procedures / Professional Services | $56,057 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Temporary Codes | $7,879 | <0.1% |
| 14 | Outpatient PPS | $6,957 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Vision Services | $4,682 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Anesthesia | $2,418 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $1,999 | <0.1% |
| 18 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $23 | <0.1% |
| 19 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $6 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80307 | Drug test prsmv chem anlyzr | $349,327 | 43 |
| 85025 | Complete cbc w/auto diff wbc | $68,321 | 188 |
| 80053 | Comprehen metabolic panel | $67,032 | 162 |
| 87880 | Strep a assay w/optic | $41,151 | 119 |
| 87635 | Sars-cov-2 covid-19 amp prb | $23,759 | 18 |
| 87811 | Sars-cov-2 covid19 w/optic | $21,881 | 25 |
| 88305 | Tissue exam by pathologist | $20,815 | 10 |
| 87804 | Influenza assay w/optic | $20,341 | 32 |
| 87502 | Influenza dna amp probe | $19,949 | 14 |
| 87070 | Culture othr specimn aerobic | $16,360 | 76 |
| 84484 | Assay of troponin quant | $13,404 | 42 |
| 83690 | Assay of lipase | $11,113 | 69 |
| 88304 | Tissue exam by pathologist | $10,043 | 9 |
| 83735 | Assay of magnesium | $9,073 | 72 |
| 81001 | Urinalysis auto w/scope | $8,070 | 99 |
| 81025 | Urine pregnancy test | $7,329 | 51 |
| 87086 | Urine culture/colony count | $4,494 | 30 |
| 84703 | Chorionic gonadotropin assay | $4,065 | 25 |
| 83655 | Assay of lead | $2,420 | 12 |
| 87430 | Strep a ag ia | $1,823 | 8 |
Note: HCPCS codes are shown for context within the category. Category totals and rankings in this article are based on standardized service groupings rather than individual billing codes.
Information in this article was obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. The source data can be found here.
