CPT code 83033: Fetal hemoglobin, qualitative assay2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
A qualitative blood test for fetal hemoglobin, reported when clinicians assess HbF presence during evaluation of a hemoglobin disorder.
Medicare pays $8.00 for 83033 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
$8.00
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 83033 covers
This assay evaluates whether fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is detected in a blood specimen. Clinicians may request it when assessing a hemoglobin disorder, including suspected persistence of fetal hemoglobin. A clinical laboratory performs the analysis and reports a qualitative finding rather than a measured HbF concentration.
Report this code for the qualitative HbF assay; distinguish it from chemical HbF testing and methods that separate hemoglobin fractions. Medicare pays the test through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount across states and localities and no office or facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $8.00, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only through 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 83033
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 83033. 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 83033 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83033 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83033 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.00
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.
83033 compared with similar tests
- 83030Fetal hemoglobinChemical, quantitative$10.74
- Both assess fetal hemoglobin, but 83033 is qualitative and 83030 describes chemical fetal hemoglobin testing.
- 83020Hemoglobin electrophoresisFractionation by electrophoresis$12.87
- Use 83020 for hemoglobin electrophoresis, which separates hemoglobin fractions; use 83033 for a qualitative HbF assay.
- 83021Hemoglobin analysisChromatography-based fractionation$18.06
- Code 83021 describes hemoglobin chromatography. Code 83033 reports a qualitative fetal hemoglobin assay, not chromatographic fraction analysis.
83033 billing questions
When should I report this instead of 83030?
Report 83033 for a qualitative fetal hemoglobin assay. Code 83030 describes a chemical approach to fetal hemoglobin testing.
Does this code report an HbF percentage?
No. This code is for a qualitative assay; it does not describe a quantitative HbF result.
How does this differ from hemoglobin electrophoresis?
Code 83033 reports a qualitative HbF assay. Hemoglobin electrophoresis, code 83020, evaluates hemoglobin fractions using electrophoretic separation.
Does Medicare pay 83033 under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this test only through the CLFS.
How does Medicare price this test?
Medicare uses one national CLFS amount for the code across all states and localities, without an office or 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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