CPT code 83060: Sulfhemoglobin, quantitative level2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Quantitative sulfhemoglobin testing measures an abnormal hemoglobin pigment in blood, typically during evaluation of persistent cyanosis or suspected sulfhemoglobinemia.
Medicare pays $8.80 for 83060 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
$8.80
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 83060 covers
This test measures sulfhemoglobin, an abnormal hemoglobin pigment that can cause persistent cyanosis. Clinicians may order it when a patient has unexplained bluish discoloration or suspected exposure to a drug or chemical associated with sulfhemoglobinemia. A clinical laboratory performs the quantitative analysis on a blood specimen; the result helps distinguish sulfhemoglobin from other causes of abnormal oxygen-carrying hemoglobin.
Report this code for the quantitative sulfhemoglobin assay, rather than for methemoglobin testing or hemoglobin variant separation. Medicare pays it through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), with one national amount for all localities and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $8.80, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only from the CLFS and 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 83060
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 83060. 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 83060 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83060 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83060 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.80
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.
83060 compared with similar tests
- 83050MethemoglobinQuantitative$8.20
- This code measures sulfhemoglobin; 83050 measures methemoglobin quantitatively. Select the code for the pigment the laboratory actually measures.
- 83045MethemoglobinQualitative analysis$6.49
- This code reports a quantitative sulfhemoglobin result. Code 83045 is for qualitative methemoglobin testing.
- 83020Hemoglobin electrophoresisFractionation by electrophoresis$12.87
- Use this code for sulfhemoglobin quantification. Code 83020 separates hemoglobin types by electrophoresis to investigate hemoglobin variants.
83060 billing questions
When should this code be used instead of methemoglobin testing?
Use this code when the laboratory measures sulfhemoglobin. Methemoglobin testing measures a different abnormal hemoglobin and is reported with the applicable methemoglobin code.
How does this differ from hemoglobin electrophoresis?
This test quantifies sulfhemoglobin. Hemoglobin electrophoresis separates hemoglobin types and is used when the clinical question concerns hemoglobin variants.
Is the test paid under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
Does Medicare use a different CLFS amount by locality or setting?
No. The CLFS amount is national and does not vary by locality or between office and facility settings.
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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