CPT code 86923: Electronic crossmatch, per donor unit2026 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 86923 covers

An electronic crossmatch uses a computer-based comparison of the recipient’s blood bank information with a donor red blood cell unit to check compatibility before release for transfusion. A hospital transfusion service or reference laboratory typically performs and reports the test as part of pretransfusion testing. Unlike a serologic crossmatch, the compatibility check is electronic rather than a physical test mixing recipient serum or plasma with donor cells.

The code is reported for each donor unit checked. Medicare physician fee schedule status X means the service is excluded from payment under the physician fee schedule because it is not a physician service under the statute. When Medicare covers the service, payment is under another fee schedule or payment system. The physician fee schedule does not pay this code.

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 86923 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

86923 rates by state

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

How the 86923 rate is calculated

Each of 86923’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 86923

86923 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.

86923 compared with similar codes

How to choose

86920Compatibility testImmediate spin, per unit

Use 86920 for an immediate-spin serologic crossmatch. Use 86923 when the compatibility check is performed electronically.

86921Compatibility testIncubation technique

Code 86921 describes a serologic compatibility test using incubation; 86923 describes an electronic compatibility check.

86922Antiglobulin crossmatchPer donor unit

Code 86922 is the antiglobulin-method serologic crossmatch, while 86923 is the electronic method.

Codes related to 86923

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