CPT code 86860: RBC antibody elution2026 Medicare rate & RVUs

Medicare allowed amount for participating (non-QP) physicians, before deductible, coinsurance and claim adjustments. Not a patient’s bill or a hospital charge.

What 86860 covers

An elution procedure separates antibodies coating a patient’s red blood cells so the recovered antibodies can be studied. Transfusion service and reference immunohematology laboratories typically perform it on a red-cell specimen during evaluation of a positive direct antiglobulin test, suspected transfusion-related hemolysis, or other immune destruction of red cells. The eluted material can help characterize the antibody involved; antibody identification is a distinct laboratory procedure.

Medicare assigns this CPT code status X: it is excluded from the physician fee schedule because it is not a physician service under the Medicare statute. When covered, payment is under another fee schedule or payment system. The code represents the elution procedure, not a quantity of antibody or a volume of specimen. Report it when the laboratory performs the elution, and distinguish that work from a direct antiglobulin test or subsequent antibody identification.

This summary was written with AI assistance from CMS physician fee schedule data and checked against the CMS billing rules shown here. Rates on this page come directly from CMS files.

Where 86860 pays more and less

The same RVUs, adjusted for each area’s costs. Open a locality for its calculation, history and nearby areas.

109 of 109 payment localities

86860 rates by state

Office rate range in each state. Select a state to see its payment localities.

How the 86860 rate is calculated

Each of 86860’s three RVUs is multiplied by a geographic index (GPCI) for the payment locality, added up, and multiplied by the conversion factor. Drag the indexes or enter a ZIP to see what moves the rate.

Payment rules and modifiers for 86860

86860 has no global surgery period, no multiple-procedure, bilateral or assistant-at-surgery adjustment, and no professional/technical split. What changes the payment is where the service happens: the place of service on the claim decides whether Medicare pays the office or the facility rate.

86860 compared with similar codes

How to choose

86880Direct CoombsEach antiserum

Use 86880 for detecting antibody or complement attached to red cells. Use 86860 to remove attached antibodies for further study.

86870RBC antibody IDPer antibody panel

Use 86870 for antibody identification. Use 86860 for the elution step that releases antibody from red cells.

86850Antibody screenRed blood cell antibodies

Use 86850 to screen serum or plasma for RBC antibodies; 86860 concerns antibodies attached to the patient’s red cells.

Codes related to 86860

Related codes aren’t interchangeable: bill the code that matches the service performed.

Where these rates come from

FeeBase calculates base physician payments from CMS work, practice-expense and malpractice RVUs, adjusted by each locality’s geographic indexes and the conversion factor. Services without a published rate are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Amounts are Medicare allowed amounts before claim adjustments: not a patient’s bill or a commercial rate.

CMS RVU26D · effective Oct 1, 2026 through the day before Jan 1, 2027

Open CMS sourceHow we calculate rates