CPT code 36415: Venipuncture, routine venous sample2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports routine collection of a venous blood specimen, commonly for laboratory testing, in physician offices, clinics, and hospital settings.
Medicare pays $9.34 for 36415 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
$9.34
In effect since Jan 1, 2026. The same amount in every state, payment locality and setting.
- Geographic adjustment
- None
- Office vs facility
- Same
- Since 2020
- +211.3%
- 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 36415 covers
This service covers collecting a blood sample by inserting a needle into a vein, commonly an arm vein. A phlebotomist, nurse, or other trained staff member typically performs the draw in a physician office, outpatient clinic, hospital, or laboratory setting. The collection supports testing such as blood counts, chemistry studies, and other laboratory analyses; the code identifies the blood draw rather than a specific test or panel.
Report 36415 for routine venous collection, not capillary sampling or a separately coded specialized venipuncture. The collection is distinct from the laboratory analysis performed on the specimen. Medicare pays this code through the CLFS, at one national amount across states and localities, without a geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $9.34. The code is paid only from the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule.
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 36415
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 36415. 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.
Excluded from the physician fee schedule
The physician fee schedule lists 36415 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
36415 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
36415 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$9.34
Up 211.3% from $3.00 in 2020
Every change on file
- Jan 1, 2026 · CLFS 2026 Q1$9.09 → $9.34 (+2.8%)
- Jan 1, 2025 · CLFS 2025 Q1$8.83 → $9.09 (+2.9%)
- Jan 1, 2024 · CLFS 2024 Q1$8.57 → $8.83 (+3.0%)
- Jan 1, 2023 · CLFS 2023 Q1$3.00 → $8.57 (+185.7%)
27 quarterly CLFS releases on file, first CLFS 2020 Q1. A code missing from a quarter wasn’t on that release.
36415 compared with similar tests
- 36416Capillary collectionSkin punctureNo national amount
- Choose 36416 when blood is collected from a capillary site; choose 36415 when the sample is collected from a vein.
- 36410Skilled venipunctureAge three or older$16.97–$24.85
- 36410 describes diagnostic or therapeutic venipuncture requiring a physician or qualified health care professional. 36415 is for routine venous blood collection.
- 36400VenipunctureUnder age three, femoral or jugular$25.04–$34.79
- 36400 is for specialized venipuncture in a child under three using a femoral or jugular vein, not routine venous collection.
36415 billing questions
Should a capillary collection be reported as 36415?
No. Use 36416 for capillary blood collection; 36415 describes collection from a vein.
When is 36410 more appropriate?
Use 36410 for a diagnostic or therapeutic venipuncture requiring the physician or qualified health care professional service described by that code, rather than routine collection.
Are units based on the number of tests ordered?
No. 36415 identifies the venous collection; it does not represent the number of laboratory assays ordered.
Does 36415 describe the laboratory test as well as the draw?
No. It identifies the collection service; report the applicable laboratory test code separately when that test is performed and reportable.
How does Medicare pay 36415?
Medicare pays it from the CLFS using one national amount across localities, with no office or facility payment difference. It is paid only through the CLFS.
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
Fee sheets
Put 36415 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Build my fee sheet