CPT code 86708: Hepatitis A antibody, total antibody2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Measures total antibody to hepatitis A virus and is reported when evaluating prior exposure or immunity rather than suspected acute infection.
Medicare pays $12.39 for 86708 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
$12.39
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 86708 covers
86708 measures total antibody to hepatitis A virus. Clinicians may order it when assessing evidence of prior infection or immunity, including after vaccination; the result does not distinguish vaccination from prior infection. It is different from hepatitis A IgM testing, which is selected when evaluating possible recent infection. Clinical laboratories perform and report this assay in outpatient and hospital care, and clinicians interpret the result alongside the patient’s history and other hepatitis results.
Report 86708 for total hepatitis A antibody testing rather than 86709 for IgM antibody. Medicare pays the test only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $12.39, unchanged each year from 2020 through 2026. The same national amount applies across states and localities, with no geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. The code is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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 86708
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 86708. 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 86708 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
86708 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
86708 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$12.39
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.
86708 compared with similar tests
- 86709Hepatitis AIgM antibody$11.26
- 86708 measures total hepatitis A antibody, commonly used to assess prior exposure or immunity. 86709 measures the IgM class, used when recent infection is being evaluated.
- 86704Core antibodyTotal antibody$12.05
- 86704 measures total antibody to hepatitis B core antigen; 86708 is specific to hepatitis A antibody.
- 86705Hepatitis B core antibodyIgM antibody$11.77
- 86705 measures hepatitis B core IgM antibody. Choose 86708 for total hepatitis A antibody, not a hepatitis B marker.
86708 billing questions
When should 86708 be selected instead of 86709?
Use 86708 for total hepatitis A antibody testing, commonly used to assess prior exposure or immunity. Use 86709 for hepatitis A IgM antibody testing when evaluating possible recent infection.
Does 86708 distinguish antibody from vaccination from antibody after infection?
No. The test measures total hepatitis A antibody and does not distinguish whether it followed vaccination or infection.
What should documentation support for 86708?
Documentation should support the total hepatitis A antibody test performed and the clinical reason for testing. Use 86709 when the test performed is for hepatitis A IgM antibody.
How does Medicare pay 86708?
Medicare pays 86708 only through the CLFS at one national amount, without geographic or office-versus-facility variation.
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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