CPT code 82044: Urine albumin, semiquantitative2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Semiquantitative urine albumin testing detects urinary albumin, often as part of evaluating or monitoring albuminuria in people with diabetes or kidney disease.
Medicare pays $6.23 for 82044 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
$6.23
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
- $6.23
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 82044 covers
This test estimates albumin in a urine specimen rather than reporting a precise concentration. It may be used when evaluating or monitoring albuminuria, including in patients with diabetes, hypertension, or kidney disease. A laboratory or an appropriately certified practice testing site may perform the assay; the result helps clinicians assess urinary protein loss and kidney health.
Report 82044 for the semiquantitative urine albumin assay, not for a quantitative urine albumin result. The service is paid only under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $6.23, unchanged from 2020 through 2026; the same amount applies across localities, without an office or facility difference. CMS lists a QW version for sites holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. The physician fee schedule does not pay this test.
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 82044
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 82044. 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 82044 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 82044 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $6.23.
82044 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82044 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$6.23
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.
82044 compared with similar tests
- 82043Urine albuminQuantitative measurement$5.78
- Both measure urine albumin. Choose 82044 for a semiquantitative result and 82043 for a quantitative result.
- 82042Fluid albuminCSF or amniotic fluid$7.78
- 82042 is for quantitative albumin testing from a source other than urine; 82044 is semiquantitative urine albumin testing.
- 82040Albumin assayBlood specimen$4.95
- 82040 measures serum albumin. It is not the code for albumin measured in a urine specimen.
82044 billing questions
When should 82044 be used instead of 82043?
Use 82044 for a semiquantitative urine albumin result. Use 82043 when the urine albumin assay reports a quantitative result.
Does 82044 represent a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio?
No. This code represents semiquantitative urine albumin testing; it does not describe a reported albumin-to-creatinine ratio.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
CMS lists a QW version for the CLIA-waived test. It is for the waived version performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How many units should be reported?
The code identifies the semiquantitative urine albumin assay; the CLFS payment is one amount per code.
How does Medicare pay for 82044?
Medicare pays it from the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office or facility difference. The physician fee schedule does not pay the test.
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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