CPT code 85007: Manual differential, microscopic white cell count2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Microscopic examination of a blood smear with a manual white blood cell differential, reported when the laboratory performs a manual count.
Medicare pays $3.80 for 85007 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
$3.80
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 85007 covers
85007 represents microscopic examination of a blood smear with a manual white blood cell count and classification. Clinical laboratories perform the test and report the manual differential as a laboratory service. It differs from an automated white cell differential and from a physician's diagnostic interpretation of smear findings. Code 85004 describes an automated differential, while 85008 describes smear examination without a differential.
Report 85007 for the manual smear differential performed. Medicare pays this test only under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $3.80 and has remained unchanged since 2020. The same national amount applies across states and localities, with no geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The physician fee schedule does not pay this test.
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 85007
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 85007. 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 85007 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
85007 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
85007 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$3.80
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.
85007 compared with similar tests
- 85004WBC differentialAutomated count$6.47
- 85007 is for a manual differential counted from a smear; 85004 is for an automated white cell differential.
- 85008Blood smearWithout manual differential$3.43
- 85008 reports microscopic smear examination without a differential. Use 85007 when the smear examination includes a manual white cell count.
- 85025Complete CBCAutomated differential$7.77
- 85025 describes a complete blood count with an automated differential. 85007 describes the manual smear differential, not that complete automated panel.
- 85060Blood smearPhysician interpretationNo national amount
- 85060 is for physician interpretation of blood smear findings; 85007 is for the manual white cell count performed from the smear.
85007 billing questions
When should 85007 be reported instead of 85004?
Report 85007 when the white cell differential is counted manually from a blood smear. Code 85004 describes an automated differential.
How does 85007 differ from 85008?
Code 85007 includes a manual white cell differential. Code 85008 describes microscopic examination of a blood smear without a differential.
Is a physician’s smear interpretation included in 85007?
85007 reports the manual white cell count. A physician’s diagnostic interpretation of blood smear findings is a separate service described by 85060 when performed and reportable.
Should 85007 be reported with a complete blood count?
Code 85025 describes a complete blood count with an automated differential; 85007 describes a manual smear differential. Select the code that reflects the test performed.
How does Medicare pay for 85007?
Medicare pays 85007 under the CLFS at one national amount across localities and office or facility settings. The physician fee schedule does not pay this test.
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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