CPT code 84704: Free beta hCG, free beta chain2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures free beta hCG, commonly as a maternal serum marker in first-trimester screening for fetal aneuploidy.
Medicare pays $15.29 for 84704 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
$15.29
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 84704 covers
This assay measures the free beta chain of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), not total hCG. Clinical laboratories commonly test maternal serum for first-trimester prenatal screening for fetal aneuploidy. The result is interpreted with other screening information, often including pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and ultrasound assessment; it contributes to a risk estimate rather than establishing a diagnosis.
Report 84704 for the free beta-chain measurement, not total or qualitative hCG testing. PAPP-A is a separate measurement and is not represented by 84704. Medicare pays the test only through the CLFS, at one nationally set amount across states and localities, without an office or facility payment difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $15.29, unchanged since 2020. The test has no separate physician fee schedule payment.
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 84704
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 84704. 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 84704 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
84704 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
84704 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$15.29
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.
84704 compared with similar tests
- 84702hCG testQuantitative level$15.05
- 84704 measures free beta hCG; 84702 measures total hCG quantitatively. Select based on the analyte the laboratory actually tested.
- 84703Pregnancy testQualitative hCG$7.52
- 84704 reports a free beta-chain measurement. 84703 is for qualitative hCG testing.
- 84163PAPP-A testSerum assay$15.05
- 84163 measures PAPP-A, a separate prenatal screening marker. It does not represent the free beta hCG measurement reported with 84704.
84704 billing questions
When is 84704 used in prenatal screening?
It is commonly used for maternal serum free beta hCG as one marker in first-trimester fetal aneuploidy risk assessment, often with PAPP-A and ultrasound assessment.
How does 84704 differ from quantitative hCG testing?
84704 measures free beta hCG. Use 84702 when the laboratory measures total hCG quantitatively.
How does it differ from qualitative hCG testing?
84704 measures free beta hCG, while 84703 is used for qualitative hCG testing.
Does 84704 include PAPP-A?
No. PAPP-A is a separate laboratory measurement; 84704 represents only the free beta hCG test.
How does Medicare pay for 84704?
Medicare pays 84704 only through the CLFS, using one national amount across localities without an office or facility payment 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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