CPT code 86310: Heterophile titer, after absorption2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures heterophile antibody titers after absorption for mononucleosis testing, distinguishing this assay from a heterophile antibody screen.
Medicare pays $7.37 for 86310 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
$7.37
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 86310 covers
This test measures heterophile antibody titers associated with mononucleosis after absorption involving beef cells and guinea pig kidney. It identifies an absorbed-titer assay, distinct from a heterophile antibody screen and from a heterophile antibody titer without the absorbed method. Clinical laboratories perform the test and report results to clinicians evaluating mononucleosis. For code selection, distinguish the absorbed-titer assay from screening and titer testing based on the method performed.
Medicare pays 86310 through the CLFS at one national amount. The 2026 national amount is $7.37 and has remained unchanged since 2020; it applies in every state and locality, without geographic adjustment or an office/facility difference. The test is paid only through the CLFS.
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 86310
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 86310. 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 86310 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
86310 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
86310 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$7.37
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.
86310 compared with similar tests
- 86308Mono testHeterophile antibody screen$5.18
- Choose 86308 for a heterophile antibody screen. Choose 86310 when the test is a titer performed after absorption.
- 86309Mononucleosis titerQuantitative antibody level$6.47
- 86309 identifies a heterophile antibody titer. 86310 distinguishes a titer performed after absorption involving beef cells and guinea pig kidney.
86310 billing questions
When is 86310 chosen instead of a heterophile antibody screen?
Use 86310 for a heterophile antibody titer performed after absorption. A heterophile antibody screen is reported with 86308.
How does 86310 differ from 86309?
86310 identifies a titer after absorption involving beef cells and guinea pig kidney. 86309 identifies a heterophile antibody titer.
What does the absorption detail identify?
It distinguishes this heterophile antibody titer test by its absorption method, involving beef cells and guinea pig kidney.
Does Medicare pay a separate physician interpretation?
Medicare pays 86310 only through the CLFS.
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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