CPT code 0581U: Transplant antibody test, 39 non-HLA targets2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
This blood test uses flow cytometry and single-antigen bead technology to assess antibodies against 39 non-HLA targets, reporting individual positive findings.
Medicare pays $325.80 for 0581U under the 2026 Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule: one national amount, the same in every state and setting.
Medicare lab fee · CLFS 2026 Q4
National CLFS amount
$325.80
In effect since Jan 1, 2026. The same amount in every state, payment locality and setting.
- Geographic adjustment
- None
- Office vs facility
- Same
- Since 2026
- Unchanged
- CMS updates
- Quarterly
Medicare pays the lesser of the lab’s charge and this amount. Patients usually owe no Part B deductible or coinsurance for covered clinical lab tests.
On this page 8 sections
What 0581U covers
The assay evaluates antibodies to non-HLA targets in a blood specimen. It uses flow cytometry with single-antigen bead technology to examine 39 targets and reports individual antibodies that test positive. The report lists positive antibody findings at the individual-target level, rather than as one overall result. This is a transplant immunology laboratory test. The targets are non-HLA antigens, distinguishing the assay from HLA antibody testing.
Report 0581U for the 39-target assay; individual positive antibodies are reported as findings, not as separate assays. Medicare pays 0581U under the CLFS at one national amount. The 2026 national amount is $325.80 and applies across states and localities, without geographic or office/facility adjustment. The code is paid only through the CLFS.
This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule data. Amounts on this page come directly from CMS files.
How Medicare pays 0581U
Clinical lab tests aren’t priced like physician services. They’re paid from their own fee schedule, with its own rules. See the whole lab fee schedule.
One national amount
CMS sets a single Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule amount for 0581U. There’s no geographic (GPCI) adjustment, so it pays the same in every state and payment locality.
No office or facility rate
Lab tests aren’t built from relative value units, so there’s no office and facility split: the place of service doesn’t change the CLFS amount.
Updated every quarter
CMS republishes the CLFS each quarter. New tests, often proprietary laboratory analyses (PLA codes), join during the year; existing amounts are updated each January.
Not on the physician fee schedule
The physician fee schedule doesn’t list 0581U: Medicare pays the test only from the CLFS.
0581U on the lab fee schedule since 2025
0581U · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$325.80
Unchanged since Jan 1, 2026
Every change on file
- Jan 1, 2026 · CLFS 2026 Q1MAC-priced → $325.80
5 quarterly CLFS releases on file, first CLFS 2025 Q4. A code missing from a quarter wasn’t on that release.
0581U compared with similar tests
- 86828HLA antibodiesBoth HLA classes$64.19
- 0581U assesses non-HLA antibodies. Code 86828 is for HLA antibody detection using a solid-phase assay.
- 86829HLA antibodiesClass I or II, qualitative$64.19
- 0581U assesses non-HLA antibodies; 86829 is for HLA antibody detection by lymphocytotoxicity.
- 86832HLA antibody panelClass I, high-definition qualitative$323.75
- 0581U assesses non-HLA antibodies. Code 86832 identifies HLA class I antibodies.
- 86833HLA antibodyHigh-definition qualitative$325.80
- 0581U assesses non-HLA antibodies. Code 86833 identifies HLA class II antibodies.
0581U billing questions
How does this assay differ from HLA antibody testing?
0581U evaluates antibodies to non-HLA targets. Codes 86828, 86829, 86832, and 86833 are for HLA antibody testing.
Are positive targets billed as separate tests?
Individual positive antibodies are reported as findings for the 39-target assay; they are not separate assays described by 0581U.
What specimen and method does the test use?
The assay uses a blood specimen and flow cytometry with single-antigen bead technology.
How does Medicare pay 0581U?
Medicare pays the code under the CLFS at one national amount across states and localities, with no geographic or office/facility adjustment.
Where this amount comes from
FeeBase reads lab amounts directly from the CMS Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule file for the quarter: one row per code, with its payment indicator and national amount. Contractor-priced tests are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare payment limits, not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.
CMS CLFS 2026 Q4 · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027
Show the CMS file line behind this amount
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