CPT code 80051: Electrolyte panel, four blood electrolytes2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate in blood to assess electrolyte and acid-base balance during evaluation or monitoring.
Medicare pays $7.01 for 80051 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
$7.01
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
- $7.01
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 80051 covers
The panel measures sodium, potassium, chloride, and carbon dioxide (bicarbonate) in blood and is used to assess electrolyte and acid-base balance. It is commonly ordered when evaluating or monitoring conditions or treatment that may affect these values. Clinical laboratories perform the assays for office and facility patients. The waived version may be performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
Report 80051 when all four panel tests are performed; do not separately report the component assays for the same panel. Append modifier QW for the CLIA-waived version. Medicare pays 80051 only under the CLFS, at one national amount in every state and locality, without an office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national amount is $7.01, unchanged since 2020.
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 80051
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 80051. 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 80051 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 80051 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $7.01.
80051 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
80051 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$7.01
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.
80051 compared with similar tests
- 80048Basic metabolic panelTotal calcium$8.46
- 80048 is a basic metabolic panel with additional tests, including total calcium. Choose 80051 when only the four electrolyte components are performed.
- 80053Metabolic panelFourteen blood chemistry tests$10.56
- 80053 covers a broader range of metabolic and organ-function chemistry tests. 80051 is limited to sodium, potassium, chloride, and carbon dioxide.
- 80069Renal panelKidney-focused chemistry panel$8.68
- 80069 is a renal function panel with additional renal chemistry tests. 80051 reports only the four electrolyte measurements.
80051 billing questions
When should 80051 be chosen instead of a broader chemistry panel?
Use 80051 when the testing performed consists of sodium, potassium, chloride, and carbon dioxide. A broader panel such as 80048 or 80053 includes additional chemistry tests.
Can the four component tests be reported separately with 80051?
When all four panel components are performed, report 80051 rather than separately reporting those component assays.
When is modifier QW used with 80051?
Use QW for the CLIA-waived version when the testing site holds a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How does Medicare pay for 80051?
Medicare pays 80051 under the CLFS. The national amount applies across localities and does not vary between office and facility settings.
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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