In 2024, Medicaid providers in La Grande submitted bills totaling $231,903 for services within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This reflects a 4% rise over 2023, when claims totaled $223,046 for the same services.
Medicaid, a public insurance program administered by states and financed by both federal and state governments, serves low-income people and families, seniors, children, and those with disabilities, making it a key component of the U.S. health care landscape.
Since Medicaid payments are funded by taxpayers, shifts in billing levels at the local level reflect how public health care resources are being distributed regionally.
The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” label refers to a subset of Medicaid-billed services sorted according to type of care and defined through consistent HCPCS and CPT coding criteria. This analysis assigned every billing code to a unique service category using systematic prefixes and number ranges, minimizing double-counting and maintaining reliable long-term rankings for related groups of services.
Even though Medicaid outlays jumped across several categories, Pathology and Laboratory Procedures stood fourth among service groupings by total Medicaid payments in La Grande during 2024.
Across Oregon, the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category held sixth place by statewide Medicaid expenditures for 2024.
Between the five years up to 2024, Medicaid funding connected to the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category in La Grande rose by $7,222, or 3.2%. Notable periods of accelerated growth led to significant year-over-year gains, particularly in 2022 and 2022.
Spending in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category was dispersed throughout the city, but a few ZIP codes received the bulk of the funding. In 2024, ZIP code 97850 alone accounted for $231,903 in these Medicaid payments. The top 1 ZIP codes together made up 100% of all Medicaid expenditures for this category in La Grande that year.
Within the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures classification, Medicaid disbursements were heavily allocated to a small group of individual billing codes.
For perspective, Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures in La Grande grew by 4% from 2023 to 2024, while across all claim categories in the city, spending increased by 10.5% in that span.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the combined sum of federal and state Medicaid spending climbed to roughly $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This equals about 18% of total U.S. health expenditures and elevated markedly from the $613.5 billion reported for 2019, the period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This reflects an increase of around 40% within a few years, driven in large part by additional enrollees and greater use of services during and after the pandemic.
Recent federal legislation passed under the Trump administration contained significant measures targeting reductions in federal Medicaid support and restructuring how the program operates. As an example, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid allocations by more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years, while implementing new requirements such as employment conditions and increased cost-sharing that could limit coverage and public funding for some recipients. The changes are expected to shift greater responsibility for Medicaid costs to the states and restrict federal expenditure growth, while the program continues to provide coverage for millions of Americans.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $224,680 | -20.1% |
| 2021 | $193,066 | -14.1% |
| 2022 | $228,848 | 18.5% |
| 2023 | $223,045 | -2.5% |
| 2024 | $231,903 | 4% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evaluation and Management | $3,084,915 | 62.1% |
| 2 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $670,458 | 13.5% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $482,744 | 9.7% |
| 4 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $231,903 | 4.7% |
| 5 | Durable Medical Equipment | $172,741 | 3.5% |
| 6 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $127,374 | 2.6% |
| 7 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $95,265 | 1.9% |
| 8 | Procedures / Professional Services | $35,841 | 0.7% |
| 9 | Drugs Administered Other than Oral Method | $20,939 | 0.4% |
| 10 | Radiology Procedures | $20,255 | 0.4% |
| 11 | Surgery | $11,280 | 0.2% |
| 12 | Temporary Codes | $8,324 | 0.2% |
| 13 | Anesthesia | $5,245 | 0.1% |
| 14 | Durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) | $2,358 | <0.1% |
| 15 | Vision Services | $255 | <0.1% |
| 16 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $130 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Dental Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| 17 | Other Services | $0 | <0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80307 | Drug test prsmv chem anlyzr | $171,108 | 11 |
| 80053 | Comprehen metabolic panel | $14,273 | 134 |
| 85025 | Complete cbc w/auto diff wbc | $10,679 | 121 |
| 87651 | Strep a dna amp probe | $10,099 | 20 |
| 87631 | Resp virus 3-5 targets | $4,492 | 3 |
| 88305 | Tissue exam by pathologist | $3,506 | 2 |
| 83036 | Hemoglobin glycosylated a1c | $2,468 | 34 |
| 80061 | Lipid panel | $2,257 | 22 |
| 87502 | Influenza dna amp probe | $2,011 | 2 |
| 84443 | Assay thyroid stim hormone | $1,797 | 14 |
| 81001 | Urinalysis auto w/scope | $1,530 | 45 |
| 86850 | Rbc antibody screen | $1,308 | 9 |
| 83605 | Assay of lactic acid | $1,298 | 12 |
| 87634 | Rsv dna/rna amp probe | $683 | 1 |
| 82306 | Vitamin d 25 hydroxy | $621 | 3 |
| 81025 | Urine pregnancy test | $466 | 6 |
| 85027 | Complete cbc automated | $466 | 6 |
| 87806 | Hiv ag w/hiv1&2 antb w/optic | $407 | 1 |
| 84145 | Procalcitonin (pct) | $357 | 3 |
| 83735 | Assay of magnesium | $350 | 7 |
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.