CPT code 87015: Specimen concentration, infectious agents2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports a laboratory concentration step that helps recover infectious agents from a specimen before subsequent examination or testing.
Medicare pays $6.68 for 87015 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
$6.68
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 87015 covers
This laboratory service concentrates a specimen to improve recovery of infectious agents before examination or other testing. It describes a preparatory processing step, not organism identification or a culture result. The specimen and concentration method are selected for the diagnostic workup. When the work performed is a comprehensive ova-and-parasite examination, code 87177 represents the examination, including concentration and identification, rather than reporting the included concentration separately.
Report 87015 for the concentration procedure performed. The service describes the processing performed, not a quantity of organisms recovered. Medicare pays it only through the CLFS, with one national amount applying across localities and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $6.68, unchanged since 2020. It 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 87015
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 87015. 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 87015 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87015 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87015 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$6.68
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.
87015 compared with similar tests
- 87177Ova and parasitesSmear and concentration$8.90
- 87177 represents the comprehensive ova-and-parasite examination, including concentration and identification. Code 87015 represents concentration alone.
- 87209Parasite stainComplex special stain$17.98
- 87209 represents a special-stain smear examination for parasites or inclusion bodies. Code 87015 describes concentrating the specimen, not examining the stained smear.
87015 billing questions
How does 87015 differ from a comprehensive ova-and-parasite examination?
87015 describes specimen concentration. Code 87177 represents a comprehensive ova-and-parasite examination that includes concentration and identification.
Can 87015 be reported separately with 87177?
Do not separately report concentration that is included in the comprehensive examination represented by 87177.
Does 87015 report organism identification or culture?
No. It reports specimen concentration, not identification of an organism or a culture result.
What documentation supports reporting 87015?
Document the specimen and the concentration procedure performed. The code describes the processing step, not an organism count.
How does Medicare pay for 87015?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office-versus-facility difference. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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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