In 2024, Medicaid providers in Hoover filed $299,385 in claims for services categorized under Pathology and Laboratory Procedures, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database shows. This represents a 6.6% bump over 2023, when claims for the same service type totaled $280,852.
Medicaid, operated by states and funded jointly with the federal government, offers health insurance to low-income individuals and families as well as seniors, children and people with disabilities, ranking as one of the nation’s largest health care programs.
Because Medicaid relies on taxpayer funding, shifts in local billing patterns track the way public health dollars are spent in the community.
The “Pathology and Laboratory Procedures” category groups Medicaid-billed services by care type, identified through universally standardized HCPCS and CPT code ranges. For this report, each code was assigned to just one service category using uniform prefixes and numeric codes to ensure accurate examination and comparison without overlap.
The Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category placed fourth in Hoover for total Medicaid expenditures among service categories in 2024, as total Medicaid spending rose across multiple categories.
Statewide, the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category was third by total Medicaid payment in Alabama in 2024.
From 2019 to 2024, Hoover’s Medicaid payments for Pathology and Laboratory Procedures increased by $126,910—an uptick of 73.6%. Certain periods, including 2021 and 2022, saw accelerated annual growth in spending.
Although spending for care in the Pathology and Laboratory Procedures category was distributed citywide, payments were heavily concentrated in a few ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 35244 received $291,616 in Medicaid payments for this category, while 35226 accounted for $7,768. Combined, these two ZIP codes represented 100% of Medicaid payments tied to this service type in Hoover for the year.
Most Medicaid payments in this category were linked to a relatively small set of specific billing codes.
Comparatively, Medicaid payments in Hoover related to Pathology and Laboratory Procedures rose 6.6% from 2023 to 2024, whereas payments for all Medicaid claim categories in the area increased by 15% during that timeframe.
According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, joint federal-state Medicaid expenditures reached $871.7 billion in fiscal year 2023. This accounted for about 18% of total U.S. health spending, up sharply from $613.5 billion in 2019, before the nation’s COVID-19 emergency.
This jump equates to roughly a 40% rise in the span of a few years—a surge largely attributed to greater enrollment and utilization during and post-pandemic.
Recent federal budget measures from the Trump administration have included major proposals intended to limit federal Medicaid spending and reshape the program. For instance, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which became law in 2025, is expected to reduce federal Medicaid outlays by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. The law introduces work requirements and increases cost-sharing, potentially reducing access and federal funding for certain beneficiaries. These provisions are set to shift more costs to states and slow the increase of federal support, even as Medicaid remains an essential service for tens of millions nationwide.
| Year | Total Medicaid Payments | % Change From Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $172,475 | 1.1% |
| 2021 | $462,292 | 168% |
| 2022 | $541,488 | 17.1% |
| 2023 | $280,851 | -48.1% |
| 2024 | $299,385 | 6.6% |
| Rank | Category | Medicaid Payments | Share of City Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Codes Established for State Medicaid Agencies | $4,468,791 | 52% |
| 2 | Evaluation and Management | $2,215,219 | 25.8% |
| 3 | Medicine Services and Procedures | $1,246,153 | 14.5% |
| 4 | Pathology and Laboratory Procedures | $299,385 | 3.5% |
| 5 | Dental Services | $114,801 | 1.3% |
| 6 | Temporary National Codes (Non-Medicare) | $76,529 | 0.9% |
| 7 | Durable Medical Equipment | $58,307 | 0.7% |
| 8 | Ambulance and Other Transport Services and Supplies | $44,167 | 0.5% |
| 9 | Enteral and Parenteral Therapy | $35,478 | 0.4% |
| 10 | Vision Services | $13,653 | 0.2% |
| 11 | Medical And Surgical Supplies | $9,168 | 0.1% |
| 12 | Procedures / Professional Services | $6,078 | 0.1% |
| 13 | Surgery | $5,480 | 0.1% |
| HCPCS Code | Description | Medicaid Payments | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87502 | Influenza dna amp probe | $123,491 | 86 |
| 87635 | Sars-cov-2 covid-19 amp prb | $91,847 | 75 |
| 87880 | Strep a assay w/optic | $37,260 | 109 |
| 87070 | Culture othr specimn aerobic | $16,662 | 78 |
| 85025 | Complete cbc w/auto diff wbc | $14,737 | 70 |
| 87634 | Rsv dna/rna amp probe | $8,230 | 9 |
| 80061 | Lipid panel | $3,265 | 13 |
| 87426 | Sarscov coronavirus ag ia | $1,697 | 4 |
| 81000 | Urinalysis nonauto w/scope | $911 | 12 |
| 80307 | Drug test prsmv chem anlyzr | $446 | 2 |
| 87449 | Nos each organism ag ia | $350 | 1 |
| 81003 | Urinalysis auto w/o scope | $309 | 9 |
| 87804 | Influenza assay w/optic | $176 | 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.
