Medicaid radiology payments in Palo Alto total $2,637,319 in 2024, marking 0.1% increase

Palo Alto Medicaid providers submitted $2,637,319 in claims for Radiology Procedures services in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show. This reflects a 0.1% increase compared with 2023, when $2,634,895 in claims were submitted for the same service category.

Medicaid, a public health insurance program managed by states with joint federal and state funding, covers low-income families and individuals, seniors, children and people with disabilities. This makes it a significant component of the U.S. health care system. For more on Medicaid financing, see this overview.

Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, shifts in local billing totals illustrate how health care spending is distributed throughout the community.

The “Radiology Procedures” category encompasses a set of Medicaid services organized by type of care, based on consistent HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Each code was assigned to a single category using uniform code prefixes and ranges. This approach ensured unique assignment for service codes and enabled accurate tracking of spending patterns over time.

Radiology Procedures was the third-largest Medicaid service category in Palo Alto by total payments in 2024, alongside broader increases to Medicaid spending across several other categories.

Statewide in California, Radiology Procedures ranked 10th by total Medicaid payments for the year.

Medicaid payments for Radiology Procedures in Palo Alto increased by $906,881—an uptick of 52.4%—over the five years to 2024. There were notable year-over-year increases in 2021 and 2022, indicating periods of accelerated spending growth.

While Radiology Procedures claims were distributed within the city, payments were heavily concentrated in just a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP codes 94304 and 94301 represented the entirety of Medicaid payments tied to Radiology Procedures in Palo Alto, at $2,501,036 and $136,282 respectively; together, these areas accounted for 100% of payments in this category during the year.

This pattern was mirrored at the billing code level, where a small number of codes represented most payments in the Radiology Procedures category.

Comparing trends, Radiology Procedures payments in Palo Alto rose 0.1% from 2023 to 2024, while all Medicaid claim categories together saw a 7.6% change over the same timeframe in the city.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that total federal and state Medicaid spending was approximately $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, or about 18% of all national health expenditures. This figure rose significantly from about $613.5 billion in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The increase amounts to about 40% growth in a few years, much of it attributed to expanded participation and higher service use during and after the pandemic period.

Recent federal budget changes under the Trump administration included notable proposals to reduce federal Medicaid funding and restructure the program. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut more than $1 trillion from federal Medicaid spending over 10 years, adding measures like work requirements and higher cost-sharing. These changes could reduce funding and coverage for some beneficiaries, placing more financial responsibility onto states and limiting future federal growth as the program serves tens of millions nationwide.

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.