CPT code 82105: AFP test, serum2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures alpha-fetoprotein in serum for evaluation or monitoring of liver cancer, germ cell tumors, and selected maternal serum screening.
Medicare pays $16.77 for 82105 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
$16.77
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 82105 covers
This assay measures alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) concentration in a serum specimen. Clinical laboratories perform it for clinicians evaluating or monitoring hepatocellular carcinoma and certain germ cell tumors, particularly nonseminomatous tumors. AFP is also measured in maternal serum as part of prenatal screening; the laboratory test is distinct from AFP testing on amniotic fluid. Results are interpreted with the clinical picture and other testing rather than as a stand-alone diagnosis.
Report this code for a serum AFP assay, not an amniotic-fluid assay or an AFP-L3 fraction test. Medicare pays it through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount in every state and locality and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $16.77, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is paid only from the CLFS, not 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 82105
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 82105. 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 82105 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82105 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82105 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$16.77
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.
82105 compared with similar tests
- 82106AFP testAmniotic fluid$17.00
- Select 82105 for serum and 82106 for amniotic fluid. The specimen tested determines the code.
- 82107AFP-L3Fraction, total AFP, and ratio$64.41
- 82105 measures serum AFP; 82107 measures the AFP-L3 fraction. They are distinct assays, not interchangeable descriptions of the same result.
- 84702hCG testQuantitative level$15.05
- 84702 measures quantitative human chorionic gonadotropin, not AFP. The tests may be ordered together but represent separate analytes.
82105 billing questions
When should the serum AFP code be used instead of the amniotic-fluid AFP code?
Use this code when AFP is measured in serum, including maternal serum. Use 82106 when the tested specimen is amniotic fluid.
How does this test differ from AFP-L3 testing?
This code reports a serum AFP assay. Code 82107 reports the AFP-L3 fraction, a distinct test rather than the total serum AFP result.
Can serum AFP and quantitative hCG be reported together?
They measure different analytes and may both be ordered in a germ cell tumor evaluation. Report each test performed under its own code.
Does the physician fee schedule pay separately for this test?
No. Medicare pays this test through 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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