Pleasant Hill sees 3% rise in Medicaid spending for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in 2024

Pleasant Hill Medicaid providers billed $346,894 for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in 2024, based on information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database. This represents a 3% rise from 2023, when providers filed $336,838 in claims under this service type.

Medicaid serves as a public health insurance program managed by the states and funded through state and federal contributions. Coverage extends to low-income families and people, seniors, children, and individuals with disabilities, making it a major element of the U.S. health care landscape.

Since Medicaid is taxpayer-funded, fluctuations in local billing illustrate how health care dollars are distributed within the community.

The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” group includes services billed through Medicaid, categorized by type of care as identified by HCPCS and CPT codes. In this report, each billing code falls into a single defined group using consistent code prefixes and numbers. This approach brings similar services together for analysis, avoids double-counting, and ensures accurate category rankings over time.

Across multiple health service areas, Medicaid spending grew, with Pathology and Laboratory Procedures leading all other categories for total Medicaid payments in Pleasant Hill in 2024.

Statewide in Louisiana, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures placed seventh in terms of Medicaid payments in 2024.

During the five years up to 2024, Medicaid payments related to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in Pleasant Hill increased by $237,908, equal to 218.3%. The pace of spending was higher during certain years with notable increases documented in 2023 and 2020.

Spending in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category occurred throughout Pleasant Hill but was concentrated in only a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 71065 reported the highest Medicaid payments within this category, at $346,894. That area alone made up 100% of all Medicaid payments in Pleasant Hill for these services during the year.

Within this group, Medicaid payments were also focused on a small number of specific billing codes.

Looking at all claims, payments tied to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in Pleasant Hill grew by 3% between 2024 and 2023, compared with overall Medicaid payment growth of 2.9% across categories in the city for the same period.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports that federal and state Medicaid spending reached around $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023, representing about 18% of total national health spending, a sharp increase from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

This reflects a roughly 40% growth over a few years, largely influenced by increased enrollment and service use during and after the COVID-19 period.

Recent federal budgets under the Trump administration have included efforts to lower federal Medicaid funding and modify program structure. Notably, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” enacted in 2025, is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over 10 years and implements policies such as work requirements and raised cost-sharing, potentially reducing coverage and funding for some recipients. These measures are anticipated to add fiscal pressure to states and restrict federal Medicaid expansion, although the program continues servicing 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.