How Much Does a Skin Biopsy (Tangential) Cost in Utah?
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$90.99In-office total2026 Medicare, Utah averageUnder 2026 Medicare rates, a skin biopsy (tangential) in a doctor's office costs about $91 in Utah, with no separate facility fee. In a facility the national total is about $445 at a hospital outpatient department or about $103 at an ambulatory surgery center, because the facility is paid its own rate on top of the physician.
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- ✓The add-on codes that typically land on the bill
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Utah Medicare physician rate (2026)
-4.8% vs nationalSingle statewide locality.
What it costs in a hospital or surgery center
In a doctor’s office, the office rate above is the whole Medicare payment. When the same procedure is done in a hospital or surgery center, the facility bills its own fee on top of the physician, which is what these totals show. They are 2026 national Medicare amounts.
Choosing a surgery center over a hospital saves about $343 on the Medicare allowed amount for skin biopsy (tangential). Ask whether your procedure can be done at an ambulatory surgery center.
This is Medicare's separate payment to the facility on top of the physician's fee. Medicare allowed amounts are not what an uninsured patient is charged, and not a quote. Private plans typically allow more.
Your ZIP in Utah
Look up your ZIP for your part of Utah, whether Salt Lake City, Provo, Ogden, Logan, St. George, or the rural east and canyon country.
What skin biopsy (tangential) costs at hospitals near you
Everything above is a national average. The hospital you pick in Utah moves the bill more than anything else you control.
Rates for your ZIP, 5 named hospitals with CMS ratings, the add-on codes, and the scheduler script.
For example 84001.
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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 center 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. In Utah the office and hospital physician lines for this CPT differ by $61.53.
National vs Utah
Where Utah ranks for this CPT
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) and how Utah is priced
Utah's fee schedule operates as a single statewide locality with geographic indices slightly below the national average, so the Wasatch Front and the remote canyon country share identical Medicare-approved amounts. Salt Lake City's growth into a major regional economy has not split the locality. From Logan to St. George, the same adjustments apply, making the statewide figures a clean guide for any Utah address. As usual, the choice between hospital-based and office-based settings will move a bill more than in-state geography can.
The Wasatch Front from Ogden through Salt Lake City to Provo concentrates nearly all of Utah's specialty care, anchored by an academic medical center and a large integrated system known nationally for cost discipline. Salt Lake City is also the referral hub for a huge intermountain region covering parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. Fast-growing St. George serves the southwest corner, but rural and canyon-country residents still travel far for procedures.
This procedure: A tangential skin biopsy removes a thin shaving from the surface of a suspicious spot using a flexible blade, without cutting deep into the skin. It is the go-to technique when a dermatologist wants to test a raised or scaly lesion for skin cancer or another skin condition. The area is numbed with a small injection, the shave itself takes seconds, and no stitches are needed; the site heals like a scrape over one to two weeks.
What Is Skin Biopsy (Tangential)?
A tangential skin biopsy removes a thin shaving from the surface of a suspicious spot using a flexible blade, without cutting deep into the skin. It is the go-to technique when a dermatologist wants to test a raised or scaly lesion for skin cancer or another skin condition. The area is numbed with a small injection, the shave itself takes seconds, and no stitches are needed; the site heals like a scrape over one to two weeks.
What Affects the Cost
- –The pathologist who examines the tissue under a microscope bills a separate professional fee, and that charge often exceeds the biopsy itself.
- –Each additional lesion shaved at the same visit is billed with an add-on code (11103), so multiple spots multiply the cost.
- –If the shave visit also includes a full skin exam, an office visit charge is typically billed alongside the biopsy.
- –Special pathology stains or a second dermatopathologist opinion on an ambiguous mole add further lab charges.
- –Hospital-owned dermatology clinics can add a facility fee that a private dermatology office would not charge.
Questions to Ask Before Booking
- 1.Which pathology lab will read my biopsy, and is it in my insurance network?
- 2.Roughly what does the pathology reading cost in addition to the biopsy fee?
- 3.If you biopsy more than one spot today, how does that change my bill?
- 4.Will today's skin check be billed as a separate office visit on top of the biopsy?
- 5.Is this being coded as medically necessary rather than cosmetic?
Other featured procedures in Utah
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) in other states
Skin Biopsy (Tangential) in Utah: questions
Under 2026 Medicare rates, a skin biopsy (tangential) in a doctor's office costs about $91 in Utah, with no separate facility fee. In a facility the national total is about $445 at a hospital outpatient department or about $103 at an ambulatory surgery center, because the facility is paid its own rate on top of the physician. Utah is a single Medicare locality, so the physician rate is the same statewide.
Not on the physician fee schedule. Utah uses one locality, so the Medicare physician rate is the same from one end of the state to the other. What still changes is site of service (office vs hospital) and any facility fee the hospital bills on its own claim.
After the Part B deductible, coinsurance is usually 20% of the allowed amount: about $18 for the office physician line or $6 for the hospital physician line in Utah. Medigap may cover that 20%. This is not the hospital facility fee.
In a doctor's office, $90.99 is Medicare's whole payment in Utah: it covers the physician, the room and the supplies, with no separate facility fee. If it is done in a hospital outpatient department instead, the physician is paid about $29.46 and the hospital adds its own facility payment, bringing the national total to about $445. Services billed under other codes, such as lab work, are extra. Utah ranks #19 of 51 states on the office rate (5% below the national office rate of $95.53).