CPT code 83003: Growth hormone, human growth hormone level2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures human growth hormone to evaluate suspected hormone excess or deficiency, including acromegaly, or as part of a stimulation or suppression protocol.
Medicare pays $16.67 for 83003 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
$16.67
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 83003 covers
This assay measures human growth hormone (GH, or somatotropin), typically in serum. Clinicians may order it when evaluating suspected GH deficiency or excess, including acromegaly, or during a stimulation or suppression protocol. Because GH levels vary over time, results are interpreted in clinical context and alongside other endocrine findings. Clinical laboratories perform and report the assay for outpatient and facility-based evaluations.
Report 83003 for the GH assay; stimulation or suppression protocols may involve serial specimens. Medicare pays the test only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). The 2026 national CLFS amount is $16.67, unchanged since 2020. One amount applies across localities, with no office or facility difference. The code is excluded from 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 83003
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 83003. 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 83003 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83003 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83003 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$16.67
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.
83003 compared with similar tests
- 84305IGF-1 testSomatomedin C$21.26
- 84305 measures IGF-1, a growth hormone-axis marker; 83003 measures GH directly. The distinct tests may be used together.
- 83001FSH testFollicle-stimulating hormone$18.58
- 83001 measures follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), not growth hormone. Select it when the ordered assay is for FSH.
- 83002LH testLuteinizing hormone level$18.52
- 83002 measures luteinizing hormone (LH), not growth hormone. Select it when the ordered assay is for LH.
83003 billing questions
What does 83003 measure?
It measures human growth hormone (GH), also called somatotropin.
How does 83003 differ from an IGF-1 assay?
83003 measures GH itself; IGF-1 is a different growth hormone-axis marker and may be used alongside GH testing.
Can 83003 be used during a stimulation or suppression protocol?
Yes. These protocols may involve serial GH measurements.
Does Medicare pay different amounts by locality or setting?
No. Medicare pays one national CLFS amount, without a locality or office-versus-facility difference.
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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