CPT code 86641: Cryptococcus antibody2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Cryptococcus antibody testing measures the host antibody response to this yeast and is reported for a laboratory analysis targeting Cryptococcus.
Medicare pays $14.41 for 86641 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
$14.41
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 86641 covers
86641 identifies a laboratory analysis for antibodies to Cryptococcus, a yeast. It measures the host antibody response rather than detecting cryptococcal antigen or the organism itself. Clinical laboratories report the code when the performed analysis targets Cryptococcus antibody.
Report 86641 for the Cryptococcus antibody analysis. Medicare pays one national CLFS amount across states and localities, without geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national amount is $14.41 and has remained unchanged since 2020. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule. A cryptococcal antigen assay measures a different analyte.
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 86641
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 86641. 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 86641 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
86641 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
86641 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$14.41
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.
86641 compared with similar tests
- 87327Cryptococcus antigenMultistep immunoassay$13.42
- Use 86641 for a Cryptococcus antibody analysis; 87327 is for cryptococcal antigen detection.
- 86635Coccidioides antibodySerologic test$11.47
- Both are fungal antibody tests, but 86635 tests for Coccidioides rather than Cryptococcus.
- 86628Candida antibodyAntibody to Candida$12.01
- Both are yeast antibody tests, but 86628 is for Candida rather than Cryptococcus.
86641 billing questions
What does 86641 measure?
It identifies an analysis for antibodies to Cryptococcus, rather than a test for cryptococcal antigen.
How does 86641 differ from cryptococcal antigen testing?
86641 is for the antibody analysis. Code 87327 is for cryptococcal antigen detection.
Which codes cover antibody testing for other fungi?
Code 86635 is for Coccidioides antibody testing, and 86628 is for Candida antibody testing.
How does Medicare pay 86641?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS at one national amount, without locality or office-versus-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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