CPT code 82610: Cystatin C2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures cystatin C, a blood marker used to assess kidney filtration, when clinicians evaluate kidney function or refine creatinine-based assessment.
Medicare pays $18.52 for 82610 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
$18.52
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 82610 covers
This blood test measures cystatin C, a marker used to assess kidney filtration. Clinicians may order it when evaluating or monitoring kidney function, including when creatinine-based assessment may be less informative. Nephrologists, primary care clinicians, and other providers may consider the result alongside serum creatinine when evaluating estimated glomerular filtration. Clinical laboratories perform and report the assay from a blood specimen.
Report 82610 for the cystatin C measurement; it is not a renal function panel or a creatinine assay. Medicare pays it through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $18.52, unchanged since 2020. The amount is the same across states and localities, with no office or facility payment difference.
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 82610
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 82610. 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 82610 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82610 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82610 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$18.52
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.
82610 compared with similar tests
- 82565CreatinineBlood specimen$5.12
- 82565 measures creatinine; 82610 measures cystatin C. The two markers may be assessed together, but one code does not represent the other assay.
- 80048Basic metabolic panelTotal calcium$8.46
- 80048 reports a multi-analyte basic metabolic panel that includes creatinine. 82610 reports cystatin C alone.
- 80069Renal panelKidney-focused chemistry panel$8.68
- 80069 reports a multi-analyte renal function panel. Choose 82610 for the cystatin C measurement rather than treating it as part of that panel.
82610 billing questions
When should 82610 be selected instead of a creatinine assay?
Use 82610 when the laboratory measures cystatin C. Creatinine measurement is reported separately with 82565; clinicians may use both markers when assessing kidney function.
Does 82610 include a creatinine test or renal panel?
No. It identifies the cystatin C assay alone. A creatinine test or renal panel is a separate service when performed and reported.
What specimen is used for the assay?
The assay is performed on a blood specimen.
How does Medicare pay 82610?
Medicare pays the test under the CLFS. The national amount applies uniformly across localities and settings; the physician fee schedule does not pay this test.
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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