Medicine Services and Procedures Medicaid payments climb to $267,227 in Muscle Shoals for 2024

Providers in Muscle Shoals billed Medicaid $267,227 for services in the Medicine Services and Procedures category in 2024, data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicaid Provider Spending database show. This represented an increase of 52.7% compared with 2023, when claims for this category totaled $174,963.

Medicaid is a state-administered, federally and state-funded public health insurance program. It provides coverage to low-income individuals and families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, making it a central part of U.S. health care.

Since Medicaid relies on tax funding, fluctuations in local billing offer insight into how public health funds are distributed within communities.

The “Medicine Services and Procedures” category covers services defined by the care provided, using standardized HCPCS and CPT codes. In this report, each billing code was classified into a single category based on code prefixes and ranges to ensure related services were grouped together, preventing double counting and enabling accurate tracking over time.

While total Medicaid spending grew across several categories, Medicine Services and Procedures ranked as the second highest in terms of total Medicaid payments in Muscle Shoals for 2024.

Statewide in Alabama, Medicine Services and Procedures was the fourth largest category by Medicaid payments during 2024.

During the five years preceding 2024, Medicaid payments within this category in Muscle Shoals grew by $193,483, or 262.4%. There were significant year-over-year increases in spending during 2023 and 2022.

Although Medicine Services and Procedures care payments spanned the city, spending was concentrated in a small number of ZIP codes. In 2024, ZIP code 35661 accounted for $267,226 in Medicaid payments. The highest-spending ZIP code represented 100% of all Medicaid payments within this category in Muscle Shoals for the year.

Payments within the Medicine Services and Procedures group were focused among a handful of distinct billing codes.

By comparison, this category saw a 52.7% rise in Medicaid payments in Muscle Shoals between 2024 and the prior year, versus a 2% rise for all Medicaid claim categories in the city over the same period.

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, overall, combined federal and state Medicaid outlays reached about $871.7 billion in fiscal 2023, comprising approximately 18% of U.S. health expenditures, and up substantially from roughly $613.5 billion in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This represents growth of close to 40% in just a few years, largely tied to expanded enrollment and increased utilization following the pandemic.

Federal budget policy enacted under the Trump administration recently featured major plans to cut federal Medicaid funding and modify its structure. The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” signed into law in 2025, is projected to reduce federal Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. The law also imposes measures like work requirements and added cost-sharing, which may reduce coverage and funding for certain enrollees. As a result, states may be required to take on greater costs while federal Medicaid funding growth slows, even as tens of millions remain dependent on the program.

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.