CPT code 82127: Amino acid test, qualitative, one analyte2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Qualitative analysis of a single amino acid, reported for each specimen tested when the laboratory performs a single-analyte assessment.
Medicare pays $14.18 for 82127 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
$14.18
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 82127 covers
This laboratory service evaluates one amino acid qualitatively in each specimen, rather than measuring its concentration. It is distinct from a qualitative analysis covering multiple amino acids and from quantitative amino acid testing. Report the code when the performed analysis is qualitative and limited to a single amino acid; it does not represent a multi-amino-acid profile or a quantitative measurement.
Report one service for each specimen tested. Medicare pays the test only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount applying across states and localities and no geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $14.18, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The code has no separate physician fee schedule payment.
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 82127
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 82127. 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 82127 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82127 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82127 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$14.18
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.
82127 compared with similar tests
- 82128Amino acid analysisMultiple, qualitative$13.87
- Choose 82127 when the qualitative analysis concerns one amino acid; choose 82128 when it covers multiple amino acids.
- 82131Amino acid testSingle, quantitative$22.98
- Both concern one amino acid, but 82127 is qualitative and 82131 is quantitative.
- 82136Amino acidsTwo to five amino acids$19.61
- 82127 is qualitative for one amino acid; 82136 quantitatively measures two to five amino acids.
- 82139Amino acidsSix or more, quantitative$16.87
- 82127 is a qualitative single-analyte service; 82139 quantitatively measures six or more amino acids.
82127 billing questions
When should this code be used instead of 82128?
Use 82127 for a qualitative assessment of one amino acid. Code 82128 describes a qualitative analysis involving multiple amino acids.
How many units should be reported?
Report one service for each specimen tested. Multiple specimens are counted separately.
How does this code differ from 82131?
This code represents qualitative testing of one amino acid. Code 82131 is for quantitative testing of a single amino acid.
Does Medicare pay a separate physician interpretation for this test?
Medicare pays this test through the CLFS only. The physician fee schedule assigns no separate payment to the code.
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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