Charleston Medicaid payments for pathology and lab services reach $143,435 in 2024

Charleston Medicaid providers billed $143,435 in 2024 for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show. This amount represented a 52.8% jump compared with 2023, when claims for these services totaled $93,865.

Medicaid, a state-administered public health insurance program, is funded jointly by state and federal governments. It serves low-income people, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities, making it one of the largest components of the U.S. health system.

Because taxpayer money funds Medicaid, changing billing levels show how public health care funds are distributed locally.

The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” category includes groups of Medicaid-billed services that are defined by care type, using standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. For this report, each billing code was placed in one service category by code prefix and numeric range to compile related services, avoiding double counting and supporting consistent rankings over time.

Among Medicaid service categories in Charleston, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures ranked fourth by total payment amount in 2024.

Statewide in Mississippi, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures had the sixth-largest total Medicaid payments for 2024.

Over the five years prior to 2024, Charleston’s Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures rose by $69,729, or 94.6%. Some years saw larger increases, including significant growth in 2022 and 2023.

Citywide, spending for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures was distributed among several neighborhoods, but payments were concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 38921 accounted for $143,435 in Medicaid billing for these services, making up 100% of the city’s total payment in this category.

Most Medicaid payments within Pathology and Laboratory Procedures came from a small group of billing codes.

Between 2024 and 2023, Charleston experienced a 52.8% rise in Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures, compared with 23.6% growth across all Medicaid claim types in Charleston during the same window.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, federal and state Medicaid spending reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up roughly 18% of the nation’s total health expenditures, up from around $613.5 billion in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This change reflects roughly 40% growth in a few years, mainly because of higher enrollment and increased use of services during and after the pandemic.

Recent federal budget measures passed during the Trump administration included major proposals for cuts and restructuring of federal Medicaid funding. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years and introduces changes like work requirements and higher cost-sharing. These measures could limit Medicaid coverage and funding for certain recipients, shift costs to states, and restrict growth in federal financial support even as the program remains vital for millions of Americans.

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.