CPT code 82106: AFP test, amniotic fluid2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures alpha-fetoprotein in amniotic fluid for prenatal evaluation of possible open fetal defects after amniocentesis.
Medicare pays $17.00 for 82106 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
$17.00
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 82106 covers
Laboratories measure AFP in amniotic fluid obtained through amniocentesis as part of prenatal evaluation for an open fetal defect, such as an open neural tube defect. Obstetric and maternal-fetal medicine teams may request the assay when screening or imaging findings raise concern. The result is interpreted with pregnancy-specific clinical information and is distinct from maternal-serum AFP testing.
Report 82106 for the laboratory measurement of AFP in amniotic fluid, not for amniocentesis or a broader fetal evaluation. Medicare pays the test through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $17.00, unchanged since 2020. One amount applies across states and localities, with no geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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 82106
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 82106. 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 82106 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82106 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82106 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$17.00
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.
82106 compared with similar tests
- 82105AFP testSerum$16.77
- Choose 82106 when the specimen is amniotic fluid; choose 82105 when AFP is measured in serum.
- 82107AFP-L3Fraction, total AFP, and ratio$64.41
- 82107 measures the AFP-L3 fraction, while 82106 measures AFP in amniotic fluid.
- 82143Amniotic Fluid TestSpectrophotometric analysis$9.35
- 82143 describes an amniotic fluid scan; 82106 is the AFP assay on amniotic fluid.
82106 billing questions
When should this code be used instead of 82105?
Use 82106 for AFP measured in amniotic fluid. Code 82105 is for AFP measured in serum.
Does this code describe amniocentesis?
No. It describes the laboratory assay on amniotic fluid, not the procedure used to collect the fluid.
How does Medicare pay this test?
Medicare pays 82106 through the CLFS. One national amount applies across localities and does not vary by office or facility setting.
How does 82107 differ from 82106?
82107 measures the AFP-L3 fraction. Code 82106 measures AFP in amniotic fluid.
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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