According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database, Medicaid providers in Pineville submitted $184,752 in billings for services categorized under Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in 2024. This represents a 20% gain from 2023, when these providers claimed $153,908 for the same services.
Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal and state governments and administered by states, insures low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities. As one of the nation’s largest health insurance programs, it plays a significant role in the U.S. health care system. More details are available from the Commonwealth Fund.
Because taxpayer funding underpins Medicaid, shifts in local billing amounts reflect how public health care resources are distributed throughout a community.
The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” group comprises a collection of Medicaid-billed services defined by specific standardized HCPCS and CPT code groupings. In this analysis, each billing code was assigned to one service category using clear code prefixes and numeric intervals, allowing consistent examination of related services and ensuring accuracy in year-over-year rankings without redundant counts.
Pathology and Laboratory Procedures ranked as the fifth highest category for Medicaid payments in Pineville during 2024, among multiple categories seeing increased spending.
Statewide across Louisiana, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures held the seventh position by total Medicaid payments in 2024.
Pineville’s Medicaid payments linked to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures increased by $125,373, or 211.1%, during the five years prior to 2024. Some of the most pronounced annual increases occurred in 2021 and 2020.
Medicaid expenditures for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in 2024 were focused among a select few ZIP codes in Pineville. Notably, ZIP code 71360 accounted for $184,751, or 100% of Medicaid payments for these services citywide during the year.
Payments within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category were also concentrated around a small group of billing codes in 2024.
For context, while Medicaid payments in Pineville for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures grew by 20% between 2024 and 2023, total Medicaid claims across all service categories in the city increased by 1.7% over the same timeframe.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, combined federal and state Medicaid spending reached roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing about 18% of the nation’s total health expenditures and showing a steep rise from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
This surge equates to growth of close to 40% in just a few years, attributed mainly to higher enrollment and increased utilization brought about by the pandemic and its aftermath.
Recent federal budget changes under the Trump administration have featured large-scale proposals to limit federal Medicaid funding and revise the program’s structure. For example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is forecast to reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the coming decade and introduces work requirements and higher cost-sharing for some recipients. These policy changes could shift costs to states and may slow growth in federal Medicaid funding, even as the program continues to cover tens of millions of people nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $59,379 | 81.8% |
| 2021 | $112,134 | 88.8% |
| 2022 | $200,896 | 79.2% |
| 2023 | $153,908 | -23.4% |
| 2024 | $184,751 | 20% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $10,298,315 | 36.9% |
| 2 | Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment | $8,680,113 | 31.1% |
| 3 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $7,048,079 | 25.2% |
| 4 | Evaluation and Management | $1,658,570 | 5.9% |
| 5 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $184,751 | 0.7% |
| 6 | Dental Services | $40,498 | 0.1% |
| 7 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $13,365 | <0.1% |
| 8 | Surgery | $9,011 | <0.1% |
| 9 | Vision Services | $5,760 | <0.1% |
| 10 | Radiology Procedures | $4,948 | <0.1% |
| 11 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $987 | <0.1% |
| 12 | Durable Medical Equipment | $190 | <0.1% |
| 13 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $51 | <0.1% |
| 14 | Administrative, Miscellaneous and Investigational | $0 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Procedures / Professional Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87811 | Sars-cov-2 covid19 w/optic | $104,656 | 138 |
| 87804 | Influenza assay w/optic | $57,608 | 119 |
| 87880 | Strep a assay w/optic | $14,994 | 95 |
| 81025 | Urine pregnancy test | $3,486 | 40 |
| 87807 | Rsv assay w/optic | $2,011 | 21 |
| 81003 | Urinalysis auto w/o scope | $1,987 | 68 |
| 85018 | Hemoglobin | $7 | 19 |
| 81002 | Urinalysis nonauto w/o scope | $0 | 2 |
| 82962 | Glucose blood test | $0 | 1 |
| 86803 | Hepatitis c ab test | $0 | 1 |
| 87340 | Hepatitis b surface ag ia | $0 | 1 |
| 87426 | Sarscov coronavirus ag ia | $0 | 2 |
| 87491 | Chlmyd trach dna amp probe | $0 | 1 |
| 87522 | Hepatitis c revrs trnscrpj | $0 | 1 |
| 87591 | N.gonorrhoeae dna amp prob | $0 | 1 |
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.
