CPT code 82979: Glutathione reductase, red blood cell enzyme2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures red-cell glutathione reductase activity, including in laboratory evaluation of riboflavin status, and is reported for the enzyme assay performed.
Medicare pays $9.44 for 82979 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
$9.44
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 82979 covers
This laboratory assay measures glutathione reductase, an enzyme, in red blood cells. Clinicians may order it when evaluating riboflavin status; the result reflects enzyme activity in the red-cell sample. A clinical laboratory performs and reports the test, typically after a clinician orders it as part of a nutritional or metabolic evaluation. The analyte is the enzyme, not glutathione itself, so code selection should reflect the red-cell enzyme assay performed.
Report 82979 for the red-cell glutathione reductase measurement, rather than for a general glutathione measurement or another red-cell enzyme assay. Medicare pays it under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount for every state and locality and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $9.44, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only from the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule.
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 82979
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 82979. 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 82979 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
82979 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
82979 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$9.44
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.
82979 compared with similar tests
- 82978Glutathione assayGlutathione protein level$15.45
- 82978 measures glutathione, while 82979 measures the enzyme glutathione reductase in red blood cells. Select the code for the analyte actually assayed.
- 82955G6PD assayQuantitative enzyme activity$9.70
- 82955 is an assay of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), not glutathione reductase. Use 82979 when the red-cell enzyme measured is glutathione reductase.
- 82960G6PD screenScreening, not enzyme assay$6.05
- 82960 is a G6PD test, a different red-cell enzyme service. It does not describe measurement of glutathione reductase.
82979 billing questions
When should 82979 be reported instead of 82978?
Use 82979 for glutathione reductase measured in red blood cells. Code 82978 describes an assay of glutathione, a different measurement.
What specimen is associated with 82979?
The test measures glutathione reductase in red blood cells. The reported service should match the red-cell assay performed.
Is 82979 a physician-fee-schedule service?
No. Medicare pays this test only through the CLFS, using a single national amount across localities and settings.
Can 82979 be confused with a G6PD test?
Yes. Both concern red-cell enzymes, but 82979 measures glutathione reductase; 82955 and 82960 are G6PD tests.
What should documentation identify?
Documentation should support that the assay measured glutathione reductase in red blood cells, distinguishing it from glutathione or G6PD testing.
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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