CPT code 84157: Body fluid protein, non-serum, non-urine sources2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures total protein in a body-fluid specimen, such as cerebrospinal or synovial fluid, when the assay is not for serum or urine.
Medicare pays $4.00 for 84157 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
$4.00
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
- $4.00
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 84157 covers
This code reports a total-protein measurement on a body-fluid specimen other than serum or urine. Cerebrospinal and synovial fluid are examples of sources covered by the code. The assay measures total protein rather than separating protein fractions and uses a method other than refractometry. Clinical laboratories report the result for the fluid tested.
Select 84155 for serum and 84156 for urine; report 84157 for other body-fluid sources. CMS lists a QW version for testing performed by a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays this test only through the CLFS. The 2026 national amount is $4.00, unchanged since 2020, and applies in every locality without geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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 84157
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 84157. 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 84157 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 84157 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $4.00.
84157 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
84157 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.00
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.
84157 compared with similar tests
- 84155Total proteinSerum, plasma, or whole blood$3.67
- Use 84155 for total protein in serum; 84157 identifies a body-fluid source other than serum or urine.
- 84156Urine proteinTotal protein$3.67
- Use 84156 for total protein in urine. Use 84157 for other body fluids, such as cerebrospinal or synovial fluid.
- 84160Total proteinRefractometry, any source$5.61
- 84160 is the any-source total-protein code. 84157 identifies an assay on a body-fluid source other than serum or urine.
- 84166Protein electrophoresisUrine or CSF$17.83
- 84166 describes protein electrophoresis for urine or cerebrospinal fluid; 84157 measures total protein without separating protein fractions.
84157 billing questions
When should I report 84157 instead of 84155 or 84156?
Use 84157 for a total-protein assay on a body-fluid source other than serum or urine. Use 84155 for serum and 84156 for urine.
How does 84157 differ from protein electrophoresis?
84157 measures total protein in the fluid. Protein electrophoresis codes describe separation or analysis of protein fractions, including 84166 for urine or cerebrospinal fluid.
When may the QW modifier be used?
CMS lists a QW version for testing performed by a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Use QW when billing that waived version.
How does Medicare pay for 84157?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS, with the same national amount in every locality and in office and facility settings.
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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