CPT code 82945: Fluid glucose, nonblood specimens2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures glucose in a body fluid other than blood, such as cerebrospinal or pleural fluid, when evaluating a fluid-specific clinical concern.
Medicare pays $3.93 for 82945 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
$3.93
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 82945 covers
82945 reports a laboratory measurement of glucose in a body fluid other than blood. Common specimens include cerebrospinal fluid and fluid collected from pleural or peritoneal spaces. Clinicians may order the test as part of evaluating suspected central nervous system infection or investigating an abnormal fluid collection. The result is interpreted with the patient’s presentation and other testing on the same fluid; it is not a blood glucose result.
Report the code for the nonblood fluid glucose assay, identifying the specimen in the laboratory record. Blood glucose testing uses a different code, even when ordered during the same evaluation. Medicare pays 82945 only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $3.93, unchanged from 2020 through 2026; the same amount applies across localities, without an office or facility payment difference. The physician fee schedule provides no separate payment for this test.
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 82945
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 82945. 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 82945 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82945 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82945 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$3.93
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.
82945 compared with similar tests
- 82947Blood glucoseQuantitative, not reagent strip$3.93
- 82945 is for glucose in body fluid other than blood; 82947 is for a quantitative blood glucose assay.
- 82948Blood glucoseReagent-strip method$5.04
- 82948 represents reagent-strip blood glucose testing. Use 82945 for laboratory glucose measurement in nonblood body fluid.
- 82951Glucose toleranceThree specimens$12.87
- 82951 represents a glucose tolerance test with blood sampling after a glucose load. It is not a nonblood fluid glucose assay.
82945 billing questions
When should 82945 be used instead of 82947?
Use 82945 for glucose measured in a body fluid other than blood. Use 82947 for a quantitative blood glucose assay.
Does 82945 describe a blood glucose meter or strip test?
No. It describes laboratory glucose measurement in nonblood body fluid; blood strip or meter testing is represented by other codes, including 82948 and 82962.
What specimen should the documentation identify?
The record should identify the nonblood fluid tested, such as cerebrospinal, pleural, or peritoneal fluid, and document the glucose assay performed.
How does Medicare pay 82945?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office or facility payment difference. It is not paid under the physician fee schedule.
Is 82945 part of a glucose tolerance test?
No. 82945 is for glucose in nonblood fluid. Code 82951 describes a glucose tolerance test using blood samples after a glucose load.
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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