CPT code 82540: Creatine, not creatinine or CK2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Laboratory assay measuring creatine in a specimen, reported when the performed test measures creatine rather than creatinine or creatine kinase.
Medicare pays $4.64 for 82540 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
$4.64
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 7 sections
What 82540 covers
82540 identifies a laboratory assay that measures creatine. Creatine is distinct from creatinine and creatine kinase (CK), despite the similar names; results for those analytes are represented by other assay codes. Report this code when the performed laboratory test measures creatine itself. It is a creatine assay, not a code for a creatinine or CK result.
Medicare pays 82540 through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount applying in every state and locality and no office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $4.64, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule and is paid only through the CLFS.
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 82540
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 82540. 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 82540 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82540 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82540 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.64
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.
82540 compared with similar tests
- 82565CreatinineBlood specimen$5.12
- 82540 measures creatine; 82565 measures creatinine. Select the code for the analyte actually assayed.
- 82570Urine creatinineUrine specimen$5.18
- 82570 is for urine creatinine, not creatine. Do not select it merely because a urine specimen is involved.
- 82550Total CKTotal enzyme activity$6.51
- 82550 measures creatine kinase (CK), an enzyme; 82540 measures creatine.
- 82553CK-MB testMB fraction only$11.55
- 82553 measures the CK-MB fraction. It is distinct from both a creatine assay and a total CK assay.
82540 billing questions
What does 82540 identify?
It identifies a laboratory assay measuring creatine. Use it when the performed test measures creatine itself.
How does 82540 differ from creatinine testing?
82540 measures creatine, not creatinine. Code the applicable creatinine assay when the test measures creatinine.
Is 82540 the code for creatine kinase?
No. Creatine and creatine kinase are different analytes; 82550 describes a CK assay.
Does Medicare pay 82540 under the CLFS?
Yes. Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount, with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment.
Is 82540 paid under the physician fee schedule?
No. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule and is paid only through the CLFS.
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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