In 2024, Wolf Point Medicaid providers billed $8,334 for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures services, based on figures from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This amount represents a 47.7% jump from 2023, when the total billed for these services was $5,641.
Medicaid, a public insurance program operated at the state level and funded collectively by federal and state governments, covers low-income people, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. It remains one of the nation’s biggest health care programs.
Because Medicaid payouts are supported by taxpayers, local increases in billing illustrate how public health spending is distributed in communities.
The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” grouping includes a range of services reimbursed by Medicaid, categorized by type of care and determined through standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. Each billing code in this review was linked to a single service category by consistent code pattern and numeric range, grouping related services together to avoid double counting and to maintain accurate year-over-year rankings.
While overall Medicaid expenditures rose across several categories, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures ranked fourth by Medicaid payment amount in Wolf Point in 2024.
Statewide, the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category held the eighth spot for total Medicaid payments in Montana in 2024.
From 2019 to 2024, Wolf Point saw a $2,504—or 43%—increase in Medicaid payments in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category. Certain years experienced steeper year-over-year growth, especially in 2022 and 2023.
Most Pathology and Laboratory Procedures spending in 2024 was associated with just a few areas in Wolf Point, with the top ZIP code, 59201, responsible for $8,334. Combined, the leading 1 ZIP codes made up the entire Medicaid Pathology and Laboratory Procedures total in Wolf Point for the year.
Payments in this category were also focused on a select group of individual billing codes.
For perspective, the 47.7% increase in Wolf Point’s Pathology and Laboratory Procedures Medicaid spending between 2023 and 2024 outpaced the 31% increase seen across all Medicaid service categories locally during the same period.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data show that combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures were about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023. That figure represented about 18% of overall U.S. health care spending and was up considerably from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the pandemic.
This rise marks a roughly 40% increase in just a few years, fueled primarily by greater enrollment and utilization following the pandemic period.
Recent federal budget actions under the Trump administration have featured large proposals to curtail federal Medicaid contributions and change its structure. One such measure, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is slated to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over 10 years. It also implements work requirements and more cost-sharing, which could limit coverage and federal funds for certain groups. These changes are expected to shift costs to states and constrain federal Medicaid growth, even with the program continuing to serve tens of millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $5,829 | -53.5% |
| 2021 | $4,435 | -23.9% |
| 2022 | $5,342 | 20.5% |
| 2023 | $5,640 | 5.6% |
| 2024 | $8,334 | 47.8% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $186,945 | 63.1% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $90,406 | 30.5% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $9,211 | 3.1% |
| 4 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $8,334 | 2.8% |
| 5 | Radiology Procedures | $898 | 0.3% |
| 6 | Surgery | $351 | 0.1% |
| 7 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $0 | <0.1% |
| 7 | Procedures / Professional Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| 7 | Temporary Codes | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87502 | Influenza dna amp probe | $2,328 | 6 |
| 87651 | Strep a dna amp probe | $1,517 | 7 |
| 87635 | Sars-cov-2 covid-19 amp prb | $1,198 | 7 |
| 80053 | Comprehen metabolic panel | $944 | 12 |
| 85025 | Complete cbc w/auto diff wbc | $829 | 24 |
| 87634 | Rsv dna/rna amp probe | $427 | 5 |
| 87086 | Urine culture/colony count | $368 | 11 |
| 81001 | Urinalysis auto w/scope | $216 | 11 |
| 86140 | C-reactive protein | $140 | 4 |
| 87077 | Culture aerobic identify | $127 | 10 |
| 87070 | Culture othr specimn aerobic | $122 | 7 |
| 87186 | Sc std microdil/agar dil | $113 | 10 |
| 80048 | Basic metabolic pnl total ca | $0 | 3 |
| 80061 | Lipid panel | $0 | 4 |
| 80305 | Drug test prsmv dir opt obs | $0 | 11 |
| 81025 | Urine pregnancy test | $0 | 2 |
| 82077 | Assay spec xcp ur&breath ia | $0 | 9 |
| 82306 | Vitamin d 25 hydroxy | $0 | 7 |
| 82805 | Blood gases w/o2 saturation | $0 | 2 |
| 83036 | Hemoglobin glycosylated a1c | $0 | 9 |
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.
