CPT code 82310: Total calcium, total, serum or plasma2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures total calcium in serum or plasma for evaluation of calcium disorders and related clinical conditions, including suspected hypercalcemia or hypocalcemia.
Medicare pays $5.16 for 82310 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
$5.16
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
- $5.16
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 82310 covers
This assay measures total calcium in serum or plasma, including ionized, protein-bound, and complexed calcium. Clinical laboratories commonly perform it on chemistry analyzers. Clinicians order it to assess calcium balance in patients with suspected hypercalcemia or hypocalcemia, kidney disease, parathyroid disorders, malignancy, or bone disease. Results may be interpreted alongside albumin, renal-function tests, phosphorus, magnesium, or parathyroid hormone, depending on the clinical question.
Report 82310 for a standalone total-calcium assay. When total calcium is included in a comprehensive metabolic panel, report the panel rather than separately reporting that component. Modifier QW identifies the CLIA-waived version for sites holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays this test only through the CLFS; the 2026 national amount is $5.16, unchanged since 2020. The amount is the same across states and localities, with no geographic or office/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 82310
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 82310. 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 82310 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 82310 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $5.16.
82310 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82310 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$5.16
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.
82310 compared with similar tests
- 82330Calcium testIonized calcium$13.68
- Choose 82310 for total calcium in serum or plasma. Choose 82330 when the assay specifically measures ionized calcium.
- 82340Urine calciumTimed quantitative measurement$6.03
- 82310 measures total calcium in serum or plasma; 82340 measures calcium in urine.
- 80053Metabolic panelFourteen blood chemistry tests$10.56
- Use 80053 when the comprehensive metabolic panel is performed, since it includes total calcium. Use 82310 for a standalone total-calcium assay.
82310 billing questions
How does 82310 differ from 82330?
82310 measures total calcium, including ionized and protein-bound fractions. 82330 is used for an ionized-calcium assay.
Can 82310 be reported with a comprehensive metabolic panel?
When total calcium is included in the comprehensive metabolic panel, report the panel rather than separately reporting 82310 for that same measurement.
When should modifier QW be used?
Use QW to identify the CLIA-waived version when the test is performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How does 82310 differ from a urine calcium assay?
82310 measures total calcium in serum or plasma. Code 82340 is for calcium measured in urine.
How does Medicare pay for 82310?
Medicare pays the assay through the CLFS. The national amount applies across localities and settings, with no geographic or office/facility adjustment.
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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