CPT code 81210: BRAF test, V600 variant analysis2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
BRAF V600 variant analysis examines the BRAF gene in cancer evaluation, including melanoma and colon cancer.
Medicare pays $175.40 for 81210 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
$175.40
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 81210 covers
BRAF analysis under 81210 examines the gene for V600 variants. It is used in evaluating cancers such as melanoma and colon cancer. This is targeted variant analysis, rather than full-gene sequencing. Molecular laboratories perform or report the assay for clinicians assessing cancer-related genetic findings. Select this code when the test performed is BRAF V600 variant analysis rather than a broader multigene panel.
Medicare pays this laboratory service under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $175.40 and has been unchanged each year since 2020. The same national amount applies across states and localities, without geographic adjustment or an office-versus-facility difference. The code is excluded from 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 81210
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 81210. 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 81210 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
81210 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
81210 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$175.40
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.
81210 compared with similar tests
- 81275KRAS testingExon 2 variants$193.25
- 81210 analyzes BRAF V600 variants; 81275 analyzes KRAS. Select the code for the gene tested.
- 81235EGFR testingCommon variants$324.58
- 81210 is for BRAF V600 variant analysis; 81235 is for EGFR gene analysis.
- 81445Tumor gene panel5–50 genes, DNA or DNA/RNA$597.91
- 81445 describes a broader solid tumor panel. Use 81210 for targeted BRAF V600 analysis when that is the test performed.
81210 billing questions
What genetic target does 81210 identify?
It reports analysis of the BRAF gene for V600 variants.
Does 81210 describe full-gene sequencing?
No. It describes BRAF V600 variant analysis, not full-gene sequencing.
How does 81210 differ from KRAS analysis?
81210 is for BRAF V600 variants; 81275 is for KRAS analysis. Select the code that matches the gene analyzed.
How does Medicare pay for 81210?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one nationally set amount that applies across localities and 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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