CPT code 80048: Basic metabolic panel, total calcium2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports a blood panel measuring total calcium alongside electrolytes, glucose, bicarbonate, creatinine, and BUN for routine evaluation or monitoring.
Medicare pays $8.46 for 80048 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
$8.46
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
- Unchanged
- QW · CLIA-waived test
- $8.46
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 80048 covers
This blood panel measures total calcium, bicarbonate, chloride, creatinine, glucose, potassium, sodium, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). Clinicians commonly order it to assess electrolyte and acid-base balance, kidney-related markers, glucose, and calcium during routine evaluation or monitoring. Hospital and independent laboratories perform the testing; physician-office laboratories may perform a qualifying waived version.
Report 80048 when all eight panel components are performed, using one unit for the panel rather than separate units for each component. For waived testing, append modifier QW when applicable at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays under the CLFS: the 2026 national amount is $8.46, unchanged since 2020. One amount applies across states and localities, without geographic adjustment or an office-versus-facility difference. The test is paid only through 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 80048
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 80048. 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 80048 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 80048 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $8.46.
80048 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
80048 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.46
Unchanged since Jan 1, 2020
27 quarterly CLFS releases on file, first CLFS 2020 Q1. A code missing from a quarter wasn’t on that release.
80048 compared with similar tests
- 80047Basic metabolic panelIonized calcium$13.73
- Both are basic metabolic panels, but 80048 measures total calcium and 80047 measures ionized calcium.
- 80053Metabolic panelFourteen blood chemistry tests$10.56
- 80048 is the basic metabolic panel; 80053 is the comprehensive metabolic panel. Select the panel that matches the tests ordered and performed.
- 80051Electrolyte panelFour blood electrolytes$7.01
- 80051 is limited to an electrolyte panel; 80048 also includes calcium, glucose, creatinine, and BUN.
- 80069Renal panelKidney-focused chemistry panel$8.68
- 80069 is a renal function panel with a different group of measurements. Select the panel that matches the tests performed and ordered.
80048 billing questions
When should 80048 be reported instead of 80047?
Use 80048 for the basic metabolic panel that measures total calcium. Code 80047 is the related panel version that measures ionized calcium.
Can the panel components also be billed separately?
When all eight components are performed as the panel, report 80048 for the panel rather than billing those same components individually.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
Append QW for the CLIA-waived version when testing is performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How many units should be reported?
Report one unit for each basic metabolic panel performed; the unit represents the panel, not each of its eight measurements.
How does Medicare pay 80048?
Medicare pays 80048 under the CLFS, with one national amount across localities and no office-versus-facility 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
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