CPT code 82803: Blood gases, calculated oxygen saturation2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports a blood-gas combination that includes calculated oxygen saturation for acid-base, ventilation, and oxygenation assessment.
Medicare pays $26.07 for 82803 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
$26.07
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 82803 covers
This test measures a combination of blood pH, carbon dioxide, oxygen, bicarbonate, or total carbon dioxide, including calculated oxygen saturation. It is commonly used to assess acid-base balance, ventilation, and oxygenation in acute respiratory illness and metabolic disturbances. Arterial blood is a typical specimen. Hospital laboratories and point-of-care testing locations may perform blood-gas analysis in emergency, intensive care, and other acute-care settings.
Report 82803 for the blood-gas combination performed, rather than a separate code or unit for each included measurement. Medicare pays the test only under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $26.07, the same across states and localities and in office and facility settings; it has been unchanged since 2020.
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 82803
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 82803. 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 82803 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82803 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82803 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$26.07
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.
82803 compared with similar tests
- 82805Blood gasWith measured oxygen saturation$78.77
- Choose 82805 for a blood-gas combination without oxygen saturation; 82803 includes calculated oxygen saturation.
- 82810Blood saturationOxygen saturation only$9.77
- 82810 is for oxygen saturation alone. Use 82803 when the service measures a combination of blood-gas values, including calculated oxygen saturation.
- 82800Blood pHpH only$11.00
- 82800 reports blood pH alone; 82803 reports a combination of blood-gas measurements.
- 82820Oxygen affinityP50 measurement$13.34
- 82820 measures hemoglobin-oxygen affinity, not the combination of blood-gas values reported with 82803.
82803 billing questions
When should 82803 be chosen over 82805?
Use 82803 when the blood-gas combination includes calculated oxygen saturation. Code 82805 describes a blood-gas combination without oxygen saturation.
Is oxygen saturation included in 82803?
Yes. Calculated oxygen saturation is included; 82810 is for oxygen saturation alone.
Should each blood-gas measurement be reported as a separate unit?
No. Report the code for the combination performed, not separate units for each included measurement.
What should documentation support for 82803?
Documentation should identify the blood-gas combination performed, including whether calculated oxygen saturation was included, to support code selection.
How does Medicare pay 82803?
Medicare pays 82803 under the CLFS at one national amount per code, with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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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