CPT code 82965: GLDH assay, glutamate dehydrogenase2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
This laboratory assay measures glutamate dehydrogenase and is reported when that enzyme, rather than glucose or G6PD, is the analyte tested.
Medicare pays $13.15 for 82965 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
$13.15
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 7 sections
What 82965 covers
82965 reports a laboratory measurement of glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), an enzyme. Select it when GLDH is the analyte measured; it is distinct from glucose testing and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) testing. Codes 82955 and 82960 concern G6PD, while 82947 identifies blood glucose measurement. The code identifies an assay by analyte, rather than a broader multi-analyte panel.
Medicare pays 82965 under the CLFS at one national amount in every state and locality, without geographic adjustment or an office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $13.15, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The service is paid only through the CLFS and is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute. Report 82965 for the GLDH assay itself.
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 82965
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 82965. 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 82965 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82965 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82965 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$13.15
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.
82965 compared with similar tests
- 82955G6PD assayQuantitative enzyme activity$9.70
- 82955 concerns G6PD testing. Use 82965 when the analyte measured is glutamate dehydrogenase.
- 82947Blood glucoseQuantitative, not reagent strip$3.93
- 82947 identifies blood glucose measurement; 82965 is for glutamate dehydrogenase.
- 82977GGT test$7.20
- 82977 measures GGT, a different enzyme from glutamate dehydrogenase.
82965 billing questions
What does 82965 measure?
It reports a laboratory measurement of glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH).
Should 82965 be used for a G6PD test?
No. Codes 82955 and 82960 concern glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD); 82965 is for glutamate dehydrogenase.
How does 82965 differ from blood glucose code 82947?
82965 measures GLDH, while 82947 identifies blood glucose measurement.
How does Medicare pay 82965?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. It is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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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