CPT code 85008: Blood smear, without manual differential2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Report 85008 for laboratory microscopic examination of a blood smear focused on white blood cells, without a manual white-cell differential.
Medicare pays $3.43 for 85008 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
$3.43
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 85008 covers
Code 85008 captures microscopic examination of a blood smear focused on white blood cells, without a manual differential that classifies white cells by type. A clinical laboratory, including a physician-office laboratory, reports the service when the ordered work is this smear examination. It is distinct from a complete CBC and from a smear interpretation service represented by 85060.
Report the code for the smear examination without a manual differential; use 85007 when manual differential work is performed, and consider 85004 for an automated white-cell differential. Medicare pays 85008 only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $3.43, unchanged since 2020. One amount applies in every state and locality, with no geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The physician fee schedule excludes the test by statute.
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 85008
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 85008. 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 85008 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
85008 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
85008 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$3.43
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.
85008 compared with similar tests
- 85007Manual differentialMicroscopic white cell count$3.80
- Choose 85008 when the smear is examined without a manual white-cell differential. Choose 85007 when the documented smear examination includes one.
- 85004WBC differentialAutomated count$6.47
- 85004 represents an automated white-cell differential. 85008 represents microscopic examination of a blood smear without a manual differential.
- 85025Complete CBCAutomated differential$7.77
- 85025 represents a complete CBC with an automated differential. 85008 is limited to microscopic examination of a blood smear without a differential.
- 85060Blood smearPhysician interpretationNo national amount
- 85008 describes microscopic examination of the smear without a manual differential. 85060 represents a blood-smear interpretation service; select according to the documented work.
85008 billing questions
Does 85008 include a manual white-cell differential?
No. It describes microscopic examination of a blood smear without a manual white-cell differential.
How does 85008 differ from 85007?
85008 is for smear microscopy without a manual differential; 85007 is the related smear code when a manual differential is performed.
Should 85008 be used for an automated differential?
No. For an automated white-cell differential, compare 85004. Code 85008 describes smear microscopy without a manual differential.
Does 85008 describe a complete CBC?
No. It describes a blood-smear examination, not a complete blood count. For a CBC with an automated differential, compare 85025.
How does Medicare pay 85008?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount across localities and settings. The physician fee schedule excludes it by statute.
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
Fee sheets · Coming soon
Put 85008 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Join the waitlist