CPT code 80181: Flecainide assay2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Laboratory measurement of flecainide identifies testing for this specific medication rather than another drug assay or a general drug screen.
Medicare pays $18.64 for 80181 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
$18.64
In effect since Jan 1, 2026. The same amount in every state, payment locality and setting.
- Geographic adjustment
- None
- Office vs facility
- Same
- Since 2021
- 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 80181 covers
Code 80181 identifies laboratory measurement of flecainide, an individual medication. The result represents testing for flecainide itself, rather than an assay for another drug such as procainamide, quinidine, or phenytoin. Those analytes are identified by separate codes, so code selection follows the medication measured. Report this code for the flecainide test; it describes measurement of the drug, not its administration.
Medicare pays 80181 under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), at one national amount that applies across localities without an office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national amount is $18.64, unchanged from 2021 through 2026. Payment for this test is through the CLFS only, with no separate physician fee schedule payment.
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 80181
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 80181. 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 80181 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
80181 on the lab fee schedule since 2021
80181 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$18.64
Unchanged since Jan 1, 2021
24 quarterly CLFS releases on file, first CLFS 2021 Q1. A code missing from a quarter wasn’t on that release.
80181 compared with similar tests
- 80190Procainamide levelParent drug$60.00
- Use 80190 for a procainamide assay. Code 80181 identifies testing for flecainide.
- 80194Quinidine levelTherapeutic drug assay$14.60
- Use 80194 for a quinidine assay; it does not identify flecainide testing.
- 80185Phenytoin levelTotal drug concentration$13.25
- Code 80185 measures total phenytoin. Choose 80181 when the medication measured is flecainide.
80181 billing questions
What does code 80181 measure?
It identifies laboratory measurement of flecainide, rather than another medication.
How is this distinguished from a procainamide or quinidine assay?
Select 80181 when the measured medication is flecainide. Procainamide and quinidine assays have separate codes, 80190 and 80194.
Does 80181 describe flecainide administration?
No. It identifies laboratory measurement of flecainide, not administration of the medication.
How does Medicare pay for this test?
Medicare pays 80181 under the CLFS at one national amount, without a locality or office-versus-facility adjustment. The test is paid through the CLFS only.
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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