CPT code 82435: Chloride test, blood specimen2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures chloride in a blood specimen to assess electrolyte and acid-base balance, either as a standalone test or within a broader chemistry evaluation.
Medicare pays $4.60 for 82435 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
$4.60
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
- $4.60
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 82435 covers
This chemistry assay measures chloride in blood, commonly from serum or plasma. Clinicians order it when evaluating electrolyte or acid-base disturbances, fluid balance, or kidney-related conditions, and to monitor a patient's clinical status or treatment. Clinical laboratories, including hospital and outpatient laboratories, perform the test; it may be ordered alone or as part of a chemistry panel that includes chloride.
Report 82435 for the blood chloride assay, rather than the urine or other-fluid chloride codes. When the test is performed as a CLIA-waived test at a site holding a certificate of waiver, CMS lists modifier QW. Medicare pays the test only through the CLFS: the 2026 national amount is $4.60, unchanged since 2020. The amount is the same across states and localities, with no office-versus-facility payment difference. The test 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 82435
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 82435. 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 82435 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 82435 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $4.60.
82435 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82435 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.60
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.
82435 compared with similar tests
- 82436Chloride assayUrine specimen$5.75
- Choose 82435 for a blood specimen and 82436 for a urine specimen; the specimen type determines the applicable chloride assay.
- 82438Chloride assayOther fluid source$5.00
- 82438 is for chloride in another body fluid, while 82435 is specific to blood.
- 80051Electrolyte panelFour blood electrolytes$7.01
- Use 80051 when the electrolyte panel is performed; use 82435 when the laboratory performs a standalone blood chloride assay.
- 80048Basic metabolic panelTotal calcium$8.46
- The basic metabolic panel includes chloride along with other tests. Report 82435 for a standalone blood chloride assay rather than the panel.
82435 billing questions
When should 82435 be used instead of 82436?
Use 82435 for chloride measured in a blood specimen. Use 82436 for chloride measured in urine.
How does 82435 differ from 82438?
82435 is for blood chloride. 82438 is for chloride measured in another body fluid.
Can 82435 be reported when chloride is included in a panel?
Use the panel code when the laboratory performs the panel, such as an electrolyte or metabolic panel that includes chloride. Do not separately report 82435 for the chloride measurement within that panel.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
CMS lists QW for the CLIA-waived version of this test. Use it when the test is performed as waived testing at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How does Medicare pay for 82435?
Medicare pays 82435 through the CLFS at one national amount across localities and settings. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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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