CPT code 85049: Platelet count, automated method2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
An automated blood test that counts platelets, reported when a clinician needs a platelet count without billing a broader complete blood count.
Medicare pays $4.48 for 85049 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
$4.48
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 85049 covers
This test uses an automated method to count platelets in a blood specimen. Clinicians may order it to assess a low or elevated platelet count or to monitor platelet levels during evaluation or treatment. A clinical laboratory performs the test and reports the result to the ordering clinician; it may also be performed in a physician-office laboratory. Automated platelet counts may be ordered alone or as part of a broader blood count.
Report 85049 for an automated platelet count when a broader CBC is not being reported for the same testing. A CBC code includes its platelet count, so do not separately report 85049 for that result. Medicare pays 85049 only under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $4.48, unchanged since 2020; the same amount applies across localities and settings, without a geographic or office/facility adjustment.
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 85049
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 85049. 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 85049 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
85049 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
85049 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$4.48
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.
85049 compared with similar tests
- 85025Complete CBCAutomated differential$7.77
- Choose 85025 for an automated CBC with differential; 85049 reports only the automated platelet count.
- 85027Complete CBCWithout automated differential$6.47
- Choose 85027 for an automated CBC without a differential. Use 85049 when only the platelet count is performed and reported.
- 85032Manual cell countErythrocyte, leukocyte, or platelet$4.31
- 85032 is for a manually performed cell count; 85049 is for an automated platelet count.
- 85055Young plateletsImmature platelet measurement$35.74
- 85055 is a reticulated platelet assay; 85049 reports an automated platelet count.
85049 billing questions
When should 85049 be reported instead of a CBC code?
Use 85049 when the service is an automated platelet count alone. A CBC code applies when the broader blood count is performed and reported.
Can 85049 be reported with an automated CBC?
A CBC includes a platelet count. Do not separately report 85049 for the platelet result that is part of the same CBC.
How is 85049 paid by Medicare?
Medicare pays 85049 only under the CLFS, at one national amount that applies across localities and office or facility settings.
Does the physician fee schedule pay for 85049?
No. Medicare pays this test only under the CLFS.
When would a manual cell count code be used instead?
Use 85032 when the relevant cell count is performed manually rather than by the automated method represented by 85049.
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 85049 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Join the waitlist