CPT code 82952: GTT specimens, beyond three specimens2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports each blood glucose specimen collected beyond the first three during a glucose tolerance test, alongside the primary tolerance-test code.
Medicare pays $3.92 for 82952 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
$3.92
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
- $3.92
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 82952 covers
This add-on represents each additional blood specimen tested for glucose during a glucose tolerance test when the protocol includes more than three specimens. The test measures blood sugar at intervals after a glucose load and may be ordered to assess how the body processes glucose, including in the evaluation of diabetes. A clinical laboratory or a qualifying waived-testing site performs the glucose testing; the clinician orders and interprets the test in the context of the patient’s care.
Report this code with the primary glucose tolerance test code, 82951, for each specimen beyond the first three. CMS also recognizes the QW modifier for the CLIA-waived version performed by a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays the service under the CLFS, with one national amount in every state and locality and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $3.92, unchanged since 2020. This test is paid only from the CLFS.
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 82952
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 82952. 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 82952 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 82952 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $3.92.
82952 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82952 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$3.92
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.
82952 compared with similar tests
- 82951Glucose toleranceThree specimens$12.87
- 82951 reports the primary glucose tolerance test. Use 82952 only for each specimen beyond the first three in that test.
- 82950Post-dose glucoseAfter glucose challenge$4.75
- 82950 describes glucose testing after a glucose dose for a service with a single specimen; 82952 is for extra specimens in a longer tolerance-test series.
- 82947Blood glucoseQuantitative, not reagent strip$3.93
- 82947 is a quantitative blood glucose assay. It does not represent an additional specimen in a glucose tolerance-test series.
- 82962Meter glucoseFDA home-use cleared instrument$3.28
- 82962 is for glucose testing with a monitoring device cleared by the FDA for home use, not an additional specimen tested as part of a glucose tolerance protocol.
82952 billing questions
When should 82952 be reported with 82951?
Report 82952 for each glucose specimen beyond the first three in a glucose tolerance test. Report it with 82951, the primary tolerance-test code.
Can 82952 be reported by itself?
No. It represents additional specimens and is reported with the primary glucose tolerance-test code, 82951.
How many units should be reported?
Report one unit for each additional specimen beyond the first three.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
Use QW for the CLIA-waived version when the testing site holds a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How does Medicare pay 82952?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS at one national amount, with no geographic 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
Fee sheets
Put 82952 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Build my fee sheet