CPT code 81308: PALB2 testing, known familial variant2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Targeted PALB2 testing checks for a previously identified family variant associated with inherited breast and pancreatic cancer risk.
Medicare pays $301.35 for 81308 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
$301.35
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 81308 covers
This molecular test analyzes the PALB2 gene for a specific variant already identified in the family. PALB2 is associated with inherited cancer susceptibility, including breast and pancreatic cancer risk. Testing may be ordered when a patient’s family history or a relative’s test result points to a known PALB2 variant. Genetic counselors, oncologists, and other clinicians may coordinate testing, with a clinical laboratory performing the analysis and reporting the result.
Report this code for analysis of the known familial variant, rather than full-gene PALB2 sequencing. The test is paid only under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $301.35, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The same CLFS amount applies in every state and locality, without an office or facility difference.
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 81308
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 81308. 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 81308 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
81308 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
81308 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$301.35
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.
81308 compared with similar tests
- 81307PALB2 testFull gene sequence$676.50
- 81308 targets a previously identified familial PALB2 variant. 81307 covers full-gene PALB2 sequencing.
- 81432Hereditary cancer panelBreast-related disorders, five or more genes$1,303.95
- 81432 describes a multigene hereditary breast cancer-related panel. 81308 is targeted to one known familial PALB2 variant.
81308 billing questions
When should 81308 be reported instead of 81307?
Use 81308 when analysis is limited to a specific PALB2 variant already identified in the family. Use 81307 when the service is full-gene PALB2 sequencing.
Is this a broad hereditary cancer panel?
No. This code describes targeted testing for a known familial PALB2 variant, not a multigene panel.
What documentation supports reporting this code?
Documentation should support that the test analyzed a specific known familial PALB2 variant. The clinical record should connect the testing to the patient’s history or the family’s identified variant.
How does Medicare pay for this test?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office or facility difference. It is paid only under 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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