CPT code 82656: Fecal elastase, qualitative or semiquantitative2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
This stool test detects pancreatic elastase qualitatively or semiquantitatively and is used when evaluating suspected exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.
Medicare pays $11.53 for 82656 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
$11.53
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 82656 covers
This test detects pancreatic elastase in stool and reports the result qualitatively or semiquantitatively. Clinicians may order it when assessing suspected exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, including in patients with chronic pancreatitis, cystic fibrosis, or symptoms of malabsorption. A clinical laboratory performs the analysis on a stool specimen; the result helps evaluate pancreatic enzyme production rather than measuring an enzyme in blood or urine.
Report 82656 for the qualitative or semiquantitative fecal elastase service. Use the quantitative fecal elastase code when the laboratory reports a quantitative result. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS, with one national amount in every state and locality and no office-versus-facility payment difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $11.53, unchanged since 2020. The code is paid only through the CLFS; it has no separate physician-fee-schedule payment for interpretation.
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 82656
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 82656. 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 82656 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82656 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82656 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$11.53
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.
82656 compared with similar tests
- 82653Fecal elastaseQuantitative$22.97
- Both test pancreatic elastase in stool. Choose 82656 for qualitative or semiquantitative reporting and 82653 for quantitative reporting.
- 82710Fecal fatQuantitative stool lipids$16.80
- 82710 measures fecal fat, not pancreatic elastase. It may help assess fat malabsorption but does not replace an elastase result.
82656 billing questions
When should 82656 be used instead of 82653?
Use 82656 for a qualitative or semiquantitative stool elastase result. Use 82653 when the laboratory performs and reports the test quantitatively.
What specimen is tested?
The test detects pancreatic elastase in stool. It is not a blood or urine elastase test.
How should units be reported?
Report the code for the qualitative or semiquantitative test performed. Do not use it to report a quantitative fecal elastase result.
Can a physician bill modifier 26 for interpretation?
No separate physician-fee-schedule payment is available for this test; Medicare pays it through the CLFS.
How does Medicare price 82656?
Medicare pays one national CLFS amount per code, with the same payment across localities and 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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