CPT code 83615: LDH test, total LDH activity2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures total lactate dehydrogenase activity in a specimen, commonly ordered during evaluation or monitoring of tissue injury and other conditions associated with cell damage.
Medicare pays $6.04 for 83615 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
$6.04
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 83615 covers
This test measures total lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), an enzyme present in many tissues. Clinicians may order it when evaluating or monitoring tissue injury, hemolysis, or conditions associated with cell damage. Because LDH occurs in multiple tissues, an elevated result does not identify the source by itself. Clinical laboratories commonly perform the measurement on serum or plasma for hospitals, physician practices, and other ordering clinicians.
Report 83615 for total LDH measurement; use 83625 when the requested analysis separates or measures LDH isoenzymes. Medicare pays 83615 through the CLFS, with one national amount across states and localities and no office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $6.04, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only through the CLFS and has no separate physician fee schedule payment.
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 83615
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 83615. 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 83615 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83615 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83615 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$6.04
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.
83615 compared with similar tests
- 83605Lactate testLactic acid, not LDH$11.57
- 83605 measures lactic acid; 83615 measures the LDH enzyme. The similar names do not indicate the same analyte.
- 83625LDH testIsoenzyme separation and measurement$12.79
- 83615 reports total LDH activity. 83625 is selected when the requested laboratory analysis measures or separates LDH isoenzymes.
83615 billing questions
How is 83615 different from 83625?
83615 reports total LDH measurement. Use 83625 when the requested analysis measures or separates LDH isoenzymes.
Is this the same test as a blood lactate assay?
No. 83615 measures the LDH enzyme; 83605 measures lactic acid. Select the code that matches the analyte ordered.
How many units should be reported?
The code reports the total LDH measurement; do not infer additional units from the enzyme's presence in multiple tissues.
Does Medicare pay 83615 under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS, at one national amount that applies across localities and settings.
Does an elevated LDH result identify a specific source of injury?
No. Total LDH can rise with injury in multiple tissues, so the result must be interpreted in the clinical context.
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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