CPT code 83835: Metanephrines, catecholamine metabolites2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
This assay measures metanephrines and is reported during evaluation of suspected catecholamine-producing tumors, including pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma.
Medicare pays $16.94 for 83835 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
$16.94
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 83835 covers
Metanephrines are metabolites of catecholamines. Measuring them can help evaluate suspected catecholamine-producing tumors, including pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Clinicians may order testing for patients with episodic hypertension, palpitations, headache, or sweating, or when an adrenal mass raises concern for hormone production. Clinical laboratories perform the assay and report results to the ordering clinician, often an endocrinologist or another provider evaluating the patient’s symptoms or imaging findings.
Report 83835 for an assay measuring metanephrines; select the test and specimen that match the order and laboratory service. Medicare pays this test under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $16.94, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The same amount applies nationwide, without locality or office-versus-facility adjustment. The physician fee schedule does not provide separate payment for this laboratory test.
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 83835
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 83835. 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 83835 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83835 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83835 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$16.94
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.
83835 compared with similar tests
- 82384Catecholamine assayThree analytes, fractionated$25.25
- Use 83835 for metanephrines, the metabolites of catecholamines; use 82384 when the laboratory measures catecholamines themselves.
- 84585Urine VMACatecholamine metabolite$15.50
- Code 84585 represents urinary vanillylmandelic acid measurement. Use 83835 when the test performed measures metanephrines instead.
83835 billing questions
When is 83835 appropriate?
Use it for a metanephrine assay ordered to evaluate possible catecholamine-producing tumors, such as pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma. Testing may be considered for suggestive symptoms or an adrenal mass.
How does this differ from a catecholamine assay?
Metanephrines are metabolites of catecholamines; code 82384 represents measurement of catecholamines themselves. Choose the code that matches the analyte measured by the laboratory.
Is a urine assay reported differently from a plasma assay?
Both may be metanephrine testing. Select the code based on the assay performed, not solely on whether the specimen is urine or plasma.
Does Medicare pay 83835 under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this laboratory test under the CLFS, with one national amount applying across localities and care settings.
What should the laboratory report identify?
The report should identify the metanephrine test performed and the result.
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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