CPT code 84550: Uric acid, blood specimen2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
This blood test measures uric acid and is reported when clinicians evaluate or monitor gout, hyperuricemia, or other disorders affecting urate levels.
Medicare pays $4.52 for 84550 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
$4.52
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
- $4.52
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 84550 covers
This laboratory assay measures uric acid in a blood specimen. Clinicians commonly order it when evaluating suspected gout or hyperuricemia and when monitoring urate levels in patients with these conditions. A blood uric acid result informs the clinical evaluation but does not by itself establish or exclude gout.
Report 84550 for the blood assay; the urine uric acid assay is reported with a different code. CMS lists a QW version for sites holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays the test under the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $4.52, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only through the CLFS, rather than 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 84550
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 84550. 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 84550 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 84550 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $4.52.
84550 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
84550 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.52
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.
84550 compared with similar tests
84550 billing questions
When should 84550 be chosen instead of 84560?
Use 84550 for uric acid measured in blood. Use 84560 for uric acid measured in urine.
Can a site report modifier QW with 84550?
CMS lists a QW version for the CLIA-waived test. QW identifies the version a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver may perform.
Does a blood uric acid result diagnose gout by itself?
No. The result supports clinical evaluation and is interpreted alongside the patient's presentation and other relevant findings.
How does Medicare pay for 84550?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office-versus-facility difference.
How does 84550 differ from a blood urea nitrogen test?
84550 measures uric acid in blood; 84520 measures blood urea nitrogen.
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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