CPT code 83874: Myoglobin, muscle protein level2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures myoglobin in blood or urine to support evaluation of suspected muscle injury, including rhabdomyolysis.
Medicare pays $12.92 for 83874 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
$12.92
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 83874 covers
This laboratory assay measures myoglobin, a protein found in muscle, in a blood or urine specimen. Clinicians may order it when evaluating suspected muscle injury or rhabdomyolysis, often alongside creatine kinase and tests that assess kidney function. It may also be ordered in a cardiac evaluation, although myoglobin is not specific to heart muscle. Hospital and independent laboratories perform the assay and report results to clinicians evaluating these concerns.
Report 83874 for the myoglobin assay performed; the code does not represent a panel with creatine kinase or other tests. Medicare pays it only through the CLFS, at one national amount with no locality, geographic, or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $12.92, unchanged since 2020. The test 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 83874
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 83874. 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 83874 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83874 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83874 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$12.92
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.
83874 compared with similar tests
- 82550Total CKTotal enzyme activity$6.51
- 82550 measures creatine kinase, an enzyme used to evaluate muscle injury. Choose 83874 when the measured analyte is myoglobin.
- 82553CK-MB testMB fraction only$11.55
- 82553 measures the CK-MB isoenzyme, whereas 83874 measures myoglobin. Select the code for the specific assay performed.
- 84484TroponinQuantitative assay$12.47
- 84484 measures cardiac troponin, a marker used in evaluating myocardial injury. 83874 measures myoglobin, which can rise with injury to skeletal or cardiac muscle.
83874 billing questions
When should 83874 be chosen instead of a creatine kinase assay?
Report 83874 when the laboratory measures myoglobin. A creatine kinase assay measures a different analyte, so the tests are not interchangeable.
Is creatine kinase included in 83874?
No. 83874 measures myoglobin; creatine kinase is a distinct analyte and test.
Does 83874 have a separate physician interpretation payment?
Medicare pays this test through the CLFS only; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
What should the record support for 83874?
Document the clinical reason for testing and the myoglobin assay performed, such as evaluation of suspected muscle injury.
How does Medicare price 83874?
Medicare pays one national CLFS amount per code across localities, without a geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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
Fee sheets
Put 83874 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Build my fee sheet