CPT code 84480: Total T3, total hormone measurement2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures total triiodothyronine in a blood specimen and is reported when clinicians evaluate thyroid function, including suspected hyperthyroidism or T3-predominant thyrotoxicosis.
Medicare pays $14.18 for 84480 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
$14.18
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 84480 covers
This laboratory assay measures total triiodothyronine (T3) in a blood specimen, including protein-bound and unbound hormone. Clinicians may order it when evaluating suspected hyperthyroidism, including cases where T3 excess is suspected, or when thyroid results need further assessment. Clinical laboratories commonly perform the test for outpatient and hospital patients as part of thyroid evaluation.
Report 84480 for a total-T3 assay; use a different code when the laboratory measures free T3. Medicare pays the test through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $14.18, unchanged since 2020. The same national amount applies in every state and locality, without an office or facility difference.
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 84480
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 84480. 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 84480 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
84480 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
84480 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$14.18
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.
84480 compared with similar tests
- 84481Free T3Unbound T3 measurement$16.94
- 84480 is for total T3; 84481 is for free T3. Match the code to the fraction measured by the laboratory.
- 84479Thyroid uptakeUptake or binding ratio$6.47
- 84479 is a thyroid hormone uptake test, not a measurement of total T3 concentration.
- 84436Total T4Total thyroxine$6.87
- 84436 measures total T4. Choose 84480 when the measured hormone is T3.
- 84443TSH testThyroid-stimulating hormone$16.80
- 84443 measures thyroid-stimulating hormone, not a thyroid hormone concentration such as total T3.
84480 billing questions
When should 84480 be chosen instead of 84481?
Use 84480 when the laboratory measures total T3, including protein-bound and unbound hormone. Use 84481 when the reported measurement is free T3.
How does 84480 differ from a T3 uptake test?
84480 measures total T3 in the specimen. Code 84479 is for a thyroid hormone uptake test, a different measurement rather than a total-T3 concentration.
Can 84480 be reported with TSH or free T4 testing?
Yes, those tests may be ordered together during thyroid evaluation when clinically indicated. Report each test actually performed under its own code.
Is 84480 paid under the physician fee schedule or the CLFS?
Medicare pays 84480 through the CLFS; the test is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
How does Medicare pay 84480 across locations?
Medicare pays one national CLFS amount in every state and locality, with no office or facility difference.
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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