CPT code 85032: Manual cell count, erythrocyte, leukocyte, or platelet2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports a manual count of an individual blood cell type—erythrocytes, leukocytes, or platelets—when that specific count is ordered.
Medicare pays $4.31 for 85032 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
$4.31
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 85032 covers
85032 reports a manual count of one blood-cell population: erythrocytes, leukocytes, or platelets. It identifies the cell count performed, rather than a complete blood count or a white-cell differential. It is distinct from an automated count of the same cell type and from a blood-smear interpretation or differential. Clinical laboratories report the manual count.
Report one unit for each cell type counted. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule and paid only under the CLFS, at one national amount per code in every state and locality, without geographic or office/facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $4.31, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The CLFS payment is a single amount per code.
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 85032
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 85032. 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 85032 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
85032 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
85032 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.31
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.
85032 compared with similar tests
- 85025Complete CBCAutomated differential$7.77
- 85025 represents a complete blood count with an automated white-cell differential. Use 85032 for an individual manual cell count, not the full CBC service.
- 85027Complete CBCWithout automated differential$6.47
- 85027 represents an automated complete blood count without a differential. 85032 describes a manual count of an individual cell type.
- 85007Manual differentialMicroscopic white cell count$3.80
- 85007 describes a white-cell differential, which classifies white-cell types. 85032 counts an individual cell population rather than providing that differential.
85032 billing questions
When should 85032 be used instead of an automated cell count?
Use 85032 when the reported service is a manual count of an individual cell type. Codes 85041, 85048, and 85049 describe automated red blood cell, leukocyte, and platelet counts, respectively.
Does 85032 represent a complete blood count?
No. It represents an individual manual cell count, not a complete blood count. Use a CBC code when the ordered and performed service is a complete blood count.
How many counts does 85032 represent?
The code is for each cell type counted. Report it for the cell population or populations actually counted, rather than treating one count as a complete blood count.
Does 85032 include a white-cell differential or smear interpretation?
No. 85032 is for a manual count of an individual blood-cell population; 85007 describes a white-cell differential, and 85060 describes blood-smear interpretation.
How does Medicare pay 85032?
Medicare pays the test under the CLFS only. One national amount applies across localities, without a geographic or office/facility adjustment.
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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