CPT code 80194: Quinidine level, therapeutic drug assay2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures quinidine concentration for laboratory monitoring of patients receiving quinidine therapy, including assessment of drug exposure during treatment.
Medicare pays $14.60 for 80194 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
$14.60
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
- 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 80194 covers
80194 identifies laboratory measurement of quinidine concentration. Clinicians managing patients treated with quinidine may use the result to assess drug exposure during antiarrhythmic therapy or investigate a suspected medication-related adverse effect. The assay is performed and reported by a clinical laboratory; it is distinct from assays for other drugs used in rhythm management.
Report 80194 for the quinidine assay, not based on the prescribed dose. Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount that applies in every locality, without an office-versus-facility payment difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $14.60, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is paid only from the CLFS and is excluded from the physician fee schedule, so no separate physician-fee-schedule payment is made for 80194.
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 80194
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 80194. 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 80194 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
80194 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
80194 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$14.60
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.
80194 compared with similar tests
- 80190Procainamide levelParent drug$60.00
- 80190 measures procainamide; 80194 measures quinidine. Select the code for the drug being assayed.
- 80181Flecainide assay$18.64
- 80181 measures flecainide rather than quinidine. The drug being assayed determines which code applies.
- 80178Lithium levelQuantitative drug monitoring$6.61
- 80178 measures lithium, not quinidine. Use 80194 for quinidine concentration testing.
80194 billing questions
When should 80194 be chosen instead of the procainamide assay?
Use 80194 when the measured drug is quinidine. The procainamide assay is for patients whose prescribed drug is procainamide.
What does the quinidine level help assess?
It supports monitoring of quinidine exposure during antiarrhythmic treatment and evaluation when a medication-related adverse effect is suspected.
Are units based on the quinidine dose?
No. The code identifies the assay, not a medication dose; report the quinidine test performed.
How does Medicare pay for 80194?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS at one national amount that applies across localities, with no office or facility payment difference.
Is a separate physician interpretation billed with this code?
80194 is paid only through the CLFS and is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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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