Medical Procedure Costs in Iowa
Iowa Medicare physician rates are generally below the national average (-7.5%). One statewide locality — the ZIP tool still maps you onto that locality.
Look up any CPT in Iowa
Featured table below is 59 procedures. Search covers 7,500+ fee-schedule codes.
What these numbers are
Every figure on this page is a 2026 Medicare allowed amount: the physician line comes from the Physician Fee Schedule adjusted by geographic practice-cost indices, and the facility totals come from the CMS hospital outpatient (OPPS) and ambulatory surgery centre rates. None of them is a hospital chargemaster price, your insurer's contracted rate, or a quote. Anesthesia, pathology, imaging reads and follow-up care are billed under their own codes when they apply, and an inpatient stay is paid a different way again. These Iowa averages are unweighted means of the state’s localities, not population-weighted.
How Medicare prices Iowa
Iowa is priced as one statewide locality, and its low geographic indices have long placed Medicare-approved amounts here among the lowest in the nation, a point the state's medical community has repeatedly raised with Washington. Des Moines and the smallest farm towns share the same fee schedule adjustments. The single locality means the university medical center in Iowa City bills against the same geographic factors as a rural clinic. Consumers comparing across state lines will often find Iowa procedure prices lower than in Illinois or Minnesota metros.
Care in Iowa is organized around Des Moines, the university hospital in Iowa City, and regional hubs like Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Sioux City, each serving broad rural catchments. Many small counties have hospitals with limited procedure offerings, so referrals up the chain are routine. Residents on the state's edges commonly cross into Omaha, the Quad Cities, or Rochester, Minnesota for specialty care.
Try your ZIP code to see local context, whether you are in Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad Cities, Sioux City, or one of Iowa's many rural counties.
Featured physician rates in Iowa
Office (non-facility) physician rates. Open a row for the locality table and ZIP tool.
Other states
Medical costs in Iowa: questions
Across the 59 featured procedures on this page, Iowa sits below the national average by about 7%. Examples: incision & drainage of abscess $119, skin biopsy (tangential) $88, skin biopsy (punch) $112. Search any other CPT in the box above — those codes are in the tool, not as extra Iowa articles.
Iowa is one Medicare locality, so the physician fee schedule is statewide. Site of service (office vs hospital) and hospital facility fees still change what a patient is billed.
Medicare physician allowed amounts only — the professional fee after GPCI. They do not include hospital facility charges, anesthesia, or your plan’s contracted rate. Medicare patients typically owe 20% of the allowed amount after the Part B deductible, before Medigap.
Yes. The table is the featured set (59 procedures). The search box looks up 7,500+ payable codes from the 2026 fee schedule and applies Iowa’s locality when you enter a ZIP.