CPT code 86829: HLA antibodies, class I or II, qualitative2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Qualitative testing reports whether antibodies to HLA Class I or Class II are present when a single-class HLA antibody assessment is performed.
Medicare pays $64.19 for 86829 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
$64.19
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 86829 covers
This laboratory test uses a solid-phase assay to assess whether antibodies to HLA Class I or Class II are present. Methods may include microsphere or bead assays, ELISA, or flow cytometry. Report 86829 for a qualitative assessment of one HLA class; its result is presence or absence rather than a semiquantitative panel result. HLA phenotype testing is a different service, as it evaluates HLA class phenotype rather than antibodies.
Medicare pays 86829 through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), at one national amount per code across states and localities, without an office or facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $64.19, unchanged since 2020. The code is paid only through the CLFS and has no physician fee schedule payment.
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 86829
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 86829. 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 86829 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
86829 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
86829 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$64.19
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.
86829 compared with similar tests
- 86828HLA antibodiesBoth HLA classes$64.19
- 86829 assesses antibodies to Class I or Class II alone; 86828 covers both classes in the qualitative assessment.
- 86832HLA antibody panelClass I, high-definition qualitative$323.75
- 86832 is the high-definition qualitative assessment for Class I antibodies. 86829 is the qualitative assessment for one HLA class.
- 86834HLA antibody panelClass I, semiquantitative$357.56
- 86834 reports a semiquantitative panel assessment of Class I antibodies. 86829 reports antibody presence or absence for one HLA class.
86829 billing questions
When should 86829 be selected instead of 86828?
Use 86829 when the qualitative antibody assessment is for Class I or Class II alone. Use 86828 when both classes are assessed together.
What result does 86829 report?
It reports whether antibodies to the selected HLA class are present or absent. Semiquantitative panel testing is reported with a different code.
Is 86829 an HLA typing or phenotype test?
No. It assesses antibodies directed against HLA antigens, while phenotype testing assesses the patient's HLA characteristics.
How does Medicare pay for 86829?
Medicare pays the laboratory test through the CLFS at one national amount, with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment. It is paid only through the CLFS.
Is a physician interpretation separately paid under 86829?
The code is paid only through the CLFS; it has no separate physician fee schedule payment.
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 86829 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Join the waitlist