CPT code 82950: Post-dose glucose, after glucose challenge2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures blood glucose after a glucose dose, commonly for a timed challenge such as gestational diabetes screening.
Medicare pays $4.75 for 82950 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
$4.75
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
- QW · CLIA-waived test
- $4.75
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 82950 covers
This test measures blood glucose in a blood specimen collected after the patient receives a glucose dose. A familiar use is the one-hour glucose challenge during pregnancy; clinicians may order it to assess the response to the dose. A clinical laboratory performs the analysis, and eligible waived testing may be performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
Report 82950 for the post-dose glucose determination. For a three-specimen glucose tolerance test, use 82951; 82952 reports each additional specimen. CMS lists a CLIA-waived version, identified by modifier QW when performed by a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays this test only under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $4.75, unchanged since 2020; the same amount applies in every locality, without geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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 82950
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 82950. 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 82950 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 82950 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $4.75.
82950 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82950 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.75
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.
82950 compared with similar tests
- 82951Glucose toleranceThree specimens$12.87
- 82950 represents a post-dose glucose determination, often a timed challenge result. 82951 is for a three-specimen glucose tolerance test; 82952 reports each additional specimen.
- 82947Blood glucoseQuantitative, not reagent strip$3.93
- 82947 reports quantitative blood glucose testing without specifying a post-glucose-dose result. Use 82950 when the result follows a glucose dose.
- 82962Meter glucoseFDA home-use cleared instrument$3.28
- 82962 is used for blood glucose testing by a glucose-monitoring method. 82950 identifies a glucose result obtained after a glucose dose.
82950 billing questions
When should 82950 be reported instead of 82951?
Use 82950 for a glucose determination after a glucose dose, such as a timed challenge result. Use 82951 for a three-specimen glucose tolerance test.
What specimen is tested?
The test measures glucose in a blood specimen collected after the glucose dose.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
CMS lists a CLIA-waived version of this test. QW identifies that version when performed by a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How are additional glucose tolerance test specimens reported?
For additional specimens beyond the three-specimen glucose tolerance test reported with 82951, use 82952.
How does Medicare pay for 82950?
Medicare pays 82950 under the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule. Its national amount is the same across localities and does not differ between office and facility settings.
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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