CPT code 83937: Osteocalcin, bone formation marker2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures osteocalcin, a bone protein used as a marker of bone formation, when clinicians evaluate bone turnover or metabolic bone disease.
Medicare pays $29.85 for 83937 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
$29.85
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 83937 covers
This laboratory assay measures osteocalcin, a protein associated with bone formation. Clinicians may order it when evaluating bone turnover, including during assessment of metabolic bone disorders such as osteoporosis. A clinical laboratory performs the test and reports the measured osteocalcin level to the ordering clinician; serum is the usual specimen.
Report 83937 for an osteocalcin assay rather than a test measuring bone resorption or parathyroid hormone. Medicare pays the test only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $29.85, and the national amount has remained unchanged since 2020. The same amount applies across states and localities, with no geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. The service 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 83937
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 83937. 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 83937 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
83937 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
83937 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$29.85
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.
83937 compared with similar tests
- 82523Collagen crosslinksUrine bone-resorption marker$18.68
- Code 83937 measures osteocalcin, a bone-formation marker; 82523 measures collagen cross-links associated with bone resorption.
- 84080Alkaline phosphataseIsoenzyme fractions$14.78
- Code 83937 measures osteocalcin. Code 84080 separates alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes, including bone-derived alkaline phosphatase.
- 83970Parathyroid hormoneBlood hormone level$41.28
- Code 83937 measures a bone protein; 83970 measures parathyroid hormone, a regulator of calcium and bone metabolism.
83937 billing questions
When should 83937 be reported instead of a bone-resorption marker?
Report 83937 for an osteocalcin assay, which is associated with bone formation. A collagen cross-link assay measures a bone-resorption marker.
Is 83937 a parathyroid hormone test?
No. It measures osteocalcin; 83970 is used for a parathyroid hormone assay.
What specimen is generally used for an osteocalcin assay?
Serum is the usual specimen.
How does Medicare pay for 83937?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount, without a locality or office-versus-facility adjustment.
May 83937 be reported with a parathyroid hormone assay?
The tests measure different analytes and may be ordered as part of an evaluation of metabolic bone conditions.
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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