CPT code 82608: B-12 binding, unoccupied binding sites2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures vitamin B-12 unsaturated binding capacity, reported when this binding-capacity assay is performed rather than a test of the circulating vitamin level.
Medicare pays $14.32 for 82608 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
$14.32
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 82608 covers
This assay measures unsaturated binding capacity for cyanocobalamin (vitamin B-12)—the portion of binding capacity not occupied by B-12. It addresses binding capacity, not the vitamin B-12 concentration measured by a separate assay. A clinical laboratory reports 82608 when this specific binding-capacity test is performed. The code identifies the assay, rather than a general vitamin B-12 assessment or a direct concentration result.
Report 82608 for the unsaturated binding-capacity assay; report 82607 when the performed test measures vitamin B-12 concentration. Medicare pays 82608 only through the CLFS, at one national amount in every state and locality, with no office/facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $14.32, unchanged since 2020. The code is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute.
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 82608
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 82608. 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 82608 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82608 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82608 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$14.32
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.
82608 compared with similar tests
- 82607Vitamin B12Level assay$15.08
- Choose 82608 for unsaturated vitamin B-12-binding capacity; choose 82607 for a measured vitamin B-12 concentration.
- 82746Folate testSerum specimen$14.70
- 82746 measures folate. It may contribute to a nutritional anemia evaluation but does not measure vitamin B-12-binding capacity.
82608 billing questions
What does 82608 measure?
It measures unsaturated binding capacity for vitamin B-12, not the vitamin B-12 concentration.
How is 82608 different from 82607?
82608 measures unsaturated vitamin B-12-binding capacity. 82607 measures the vitamin B-12 level itself.
What should documentation identify?
Identify the unsaturated vitamin B-12-binding-capacity assay performed, rather than describing a vitamin B-12 concentration test.
How does Medicare pay for 82608?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount across states and localities, with no office-versus-facility difference.
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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