CPT code 83880: Natriuretic peptide2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures a natriuretic peptide, commonly used as part of an evaluation for heart failure in patients with shortness of breath or worsening cardiac symptoms.
Medicare pays $39.26 for 83880 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
$39.26
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
- QW · CLIA-waived test
- $39.26
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 83880 covers
This blood assay measures a natriuretic peptide, such as BNP or NT-proBNP, which can rise with cardiac wall stress. Clinicians may order it as part of a heart failure evaluation, including for a patient with unexplained shortness of breath, suspected fluid overload, or worsening cardiac symptoms. Laboratory services and eligible waived-testing sites perform the assay.
Report 83880 for the natriuretic peptide assay. CMS lists a CLIA-waived version; sites holding a CLIA certificate of waiver use modifier QW for that version. Medicare pays the test only through the CLFS, at one national amount without locality or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $39.26, unchanged from 2020 through 2026.
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 83880
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 83880. 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 83880 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 83880 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $39.26.
83880 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83880 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$39.26
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.
83880 compared with similar tests
- 84484TroponinQuantitative assay$12.47
- Use 83880 for a natriuretic peptide assay in a heart failure evaluation; 84484 measures troponin used to assess myocardial injury.
- 80048Basic metabolic panelTotal calcium$8.46
- 83880 measures a natriuretic peptide. Code 80048 reports a basic metabolic panel, not a peptide assay.
- 83876MPO testMyeloperoxidase measurement$50.86
- 83880 measures a natriuretic peptide; 83876 measures myeloperoxidase, a different laboratory analyte.
83880 billing questions
When should 83880 be reported instead of a troponin assay?
Report 83880 for a natriuretic peptide measurement used in a heart failure evaluation. Troponin testing, such as 84484, measures a different marker used to assess myocardial injury.
Can 83880 represent BNP or NT-proBNP testing?
Yes. The code is used for a natriuretic peptide assay, including BNP- and NT-proBNP-type testing.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
Use QW for the CLIA-waived version when testing is performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
How does Medicare pay for 83880?
Medicare pays 83880 through the CLFS at one national amount, with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment.
Is 83880 a chemistry panel?
No. It reports a natriuretic peptide assay, not a panel of chemistry tests such as the basic metabolic panel reported with 80048.
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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