CPT code 87045: Stool culture, aerobic, Salmonella and Shigella2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Aerobic stool culture isolates and preliminarily examines bacteria, including Salmonella and Shigella, during evaluation of suspected bacterial gastrointestinal infection.
Medicare pays $9.44 for 87045 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
$9.44
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 87045 covers
A clinical microbiology laboratory cultures stool under aerobic conditions and isolates bacteria for preliminary examination, including work directed at Salmonella and Shigella. Clinicians commonly order the test when evaluating diarrhea or other symptoms suggesting bacterial gastrointestinal infection. The laboratory performs the culture and reports its findings to the ordering clinician; the code describes the stool culture service rather than a blood, urine, or other-site culture.
Report this code for the primary aerobic stool culture. Code 87046 may be reported for each additional pathogen when applicable. Medicare pays the test through the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule: the 2026 national amount is $9.44, unchanged since 2020. The amount is the same across states and localities, with no geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment.
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 87045
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 87045. 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 87045 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87045 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87045 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$9.44
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.
87045 compared with similar tests
- 87046Stool cultureAdditional pathogens, per plate$9.44
- 87045 is the primary aerobic stool culture; 87046 is used for each additional pathogen when applicable.
- 87070Aerobic cultureNon-urine, blood, or stool$8.62
- 87045 is specific to stool culture with isolation and preliminary examination for Salmonella and Shigella. Use 87070 for aerobic culture of other specimen types.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- 87040 is for bacterial culture of blood. Select 87045 when the specimen cultured is stool.
- 87081Culture screenScreening only$6.63
- 87081 describes a screening culture. 87045 is the aerobic stool culture with isolation and preliminary examination for Salmonella and Shigella.
87045 billing questions
When should 87045 be selected instead of 87070?
Use 87045 for an aerobic bacterial culture of stool with isolation and preliminary examination directed at Salmonella and Shigella. Code 87070 is for aerobic culture of other specimen types.
How does 87046 relate to 87045?
87045 represents the primary aerobic stool culture. Report 87046 for each additional pathogen when applicable.
Is 87045 the code for a blood culture?
No. It is specific to stool; bacterial blood cultures are reported with 87040.
How does Medicare pay for this test?
Medicare pays 87045 through the CLFS. The national amount applies uniformly across localities and settings.
What should the record support?
Documentation should identify the stool specimen and the clinical reason for culture, such as evaluation of suspected bacterial gastrointestinal infection.
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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