CPT code 82136: Amino acids, two to five amino acids2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Quantitative testing of two to five amino acids per specimen is reported when clinicians evaluate suspected amino acid metabolism abnormalities.
Medicare pays $19.61 for 82136 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
$19.61
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 82136 covers
This laboratory test quantitatively measures two to five amino acids in each specimen. Clinicians may order it when evaluating suspected abnormalities of amino acid metabolism, including inherited metabolic disorders. A clinical laboratory performs the analysis and reports results to the ordering clinician; the code distinguishes this quantitative range from single-amino-acid testing and testing of six or more amino acids.
Report 82136 for each specimen analyzed for two to five amino acids. Medicare pays the test under the CLFS at one national amount per code across states and localities, without geographic adjustment or an office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $19.61, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is paid only through the CLFS and is excluded from 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 82136
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 82136. 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 82136 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82136 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82136 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$19.61
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.
82136 compared with similar tests
- 82131Amino acid testSingle, quantitative$22.98
- Choose 82131 when the quantitative analysis covers one amino acid. Code 82136 is for two to five amino acids per specimen.
- 82139Amino acidsSix or more, quantitative$16.87
- Choose 82139 when six or more amino acids are measured quantitatively. Code 82136 covers two to five.
- 82128Amino acid analysisMultiple, qualitative$13.87
- 82128 describes qualitative testing of multiple amino acids; 82136 describes quantitative measurement of two to five.
82136 billing questions
When should this code be selected instead of 82131?
Use 82136 for quantitative analysis of two to five amino acids per specimen. Code 82131 is for quantitative analysis of a single amino acid.
How does this code differ from 82139?
82136 represents quantitative testing of two to five amino acids per specimen; 82139 represents testing of six or more.
Is this a qualitative or quantitative test?
It is quantitative. Codes 82127 and 82128 describe qualitative amino acid testing.
How does Medicare pay for this service?
Medicare pays this test through the CLFS at one national amount across localities and settings. It is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
What should the laboratory report support?
The record should support quantitative measurement of two to five amino acids for each specimen reported under this 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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