Mohs surgery clinicians
CMS lists 3,463 clinicians with a primary specialty of dermatology, micrographic dermatologic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, general surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology who have billed Medicare for at least one removal of skin cancer procedure (details below).
States and territories
# of clinicians performing Mohs surgery
- Alabama 55
- Alaska 6
- Arizona 153
- Arkansas 36
- California 525
- Colorado 87
- Connecticut 36
- Delaware 18
- District of Columbia 8
- Florida 415
- Georgia 102
- Hawaii 19
- Idaho 34
- Illinois 113
- Indiana 57
- Iowa 47
- Kansas 40
- Kentucky 38
- Louisiana 30
- Maine 12
- Maryland 60
- Massachusetts 82
- Michigan 94
- Minnesota 83
- Mississippi 25
- Missouri 78
- Montana 19
- Nebraska 31
- Nevada 45
- New Hampshire 21
- New Jersey 105
- New Mexico 16
- New York 201
- North Carolina 112
- North Dakota 11
- Ohio 100
- Oklahoma 25
- Oregon 55
- Pennsylvania 153
- Puerto Rico 7
- Rhode Island 17
- South Carolina 58
- South Dakota 22
- Tennessee 81
- Texas 246
- U.S. Virgin Islands 1
- Utah 54
- Vermont 7
- Virginia 85
- Washington 76
- West Virginia 15
- Wisconsin 59
- Wyoming 14
A clinician who practices in more than one state is counted in each state.
Understanding CMS Data
CMS's "Removal of skin cancer" category combines specific billing codes for Mohs micrographic surgery to calculate the number of times each clinician billed Medicare for "Removal of skin cancer." In Mohs surgery, the clinician removes a skin cancer in stages and examines each stage under a microscope during the same visit. CMS counts each billing code separately, so a single skin cancer that takes more than one stage can contribute more than once to this total. CMS reports removal of a skin cancer by standard excision, without microscopic examination during the visit, in a different category, so this total does not include it. CMS reports only procedures that clinicians billed to Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Therefore, CMS's procedure volume data does not include procedures that clinicians may have performed on patients who have other health care coverage (e.g., commercial insurance, self-pay, or the VA). Billing variation and coding errors can also affect CMS's data. Therefore, the number of procedures that CMS reports for a clinician may be higher or lower than the actual number of removal of skin cancer procedures a clinician performed during the reporting period. Lastly, only clinicians with a primary specialty of dermatology, micrographic dermatologic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, general surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology (as reported to Medicare) are presented.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (October 2, 2026 release).
National Percentile Calculation
Who this section includes
CMS lists 3,589 clinicians in its "Removal of skin cancer" category. This section covers the 3,463 with a primary specialty of dermatology, micrographic dermatologic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, general surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology (as reported to Medicare) and leaves out the other 126.
How the percentile works
CMS publishes its own percentile for this data using a single, national pool that also includes clinicians with other primary specialties, such as Physician Assistant and Nurse Practitioner. We use CMS's percentile formula, but restrict the comparison group to clinicians with a primary specialty of dermatology, micrographic dermatologic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, general surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology, so our number answers a narrower question: how does this clinician's procedure volume compare with other clinicians who billed Medicare for at least one removal of skin cancer procedure and reported one of those as their primary specialty?
CMS reports a count between 1 and 10 as "1-10" to protect patient privacy. Every clinician with a 1-10 count sits below every clinician with an exact count, so a clinician page shows their percentile as "8% or below" in the October 2, 2026 release.
Reading the volume chart
Reading the curve: find a volume along the bottom, and the line gives the percentile of clinicians with a primary specialty of dermatology, micrographic dermatologic surgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology, general surgery, hand surgery, or surgical oncology at or below it. The shaded block covers the 266 clinicians CMS reports as 1-10, because CMS suppresses counts below 11. The axis runs from 0 to 7,403, the highest count CMS reports in the group, and gives low counts more room than high ones so the whole range fits. The labels under the axis mark the 25th percentile, the median and the 75th percentile.
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (October 2, 2026 release).
| Percentile | Removal of Skin Cancer Procedures billed to Medicare |
|---|---|
| 10th | 24 |
| 20th | 102 |
| 30th | 182 |
| 40th | 279 |
| 50th | 383 |
| 60th | 516 |
| 70th | 657 |
| 80th | 843 |
| 90th | 1,150 |
| Highest | 7,403 |
About CMS data releases
CMS refreshes this data "on a quarterly basis, as technically feasible." Each release counts procedures over what CMS describes as "a one-year observation window, with a lookback beginning three months prior to the present day", allowing three months for claims to be submitted and processed. CMS does not publish the start and end dates of the window behind any release, and consecutive releases may cover overlapping periods, or the same period with later-arriving claims added.