CPT code 87070: Aerobic culture, non-urine, blood, or stool2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Aerobic bacterial culture of specimens other than urine, blood, or stool, reported when the laboratory isolates and presumptively identifies recovered bacteria.
Medicare pays $8.62 for 87070 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
$8.62
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 87070 covers
This test grows bacteria aerobically from a specimen source other than urine, blood, or stool. It is commonly used for wound, tissue, and fluid specimens when a clinician is evaluating a suspected bacterial infection. Microbiology laboratories perform the culture and report organisms recovered with presumptive identification.
Report 87070 for an eligible aerobic culture, not for urine, blood, or stool cultures, which have specimen-specific codes. The service includes culture with isolation and presumptive identification; it is not a quantitative aerobic culture. Medicare pays the test under the CLFS at one national amount in every locality, with no office or facility payment difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $8.62, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is paid only from the CLFS, not 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 87070
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 87070. 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 87070 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87070 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87070 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.62
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.
87070 compared with similar tests
- 87071Aerobic cultureQuantitative, nonblood source$9.89
- Both concern aerobic culture of a specimen other than urine, blood, or stool. Choose 87071 when the culture is quantitative; 87070 describes culture with isolation and presumptive identification.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- Use 87040 for a bacterial blood culture. Code 87070 is for aerobic cultures from other specimen sources.
- 87045Stool cultureAerobic, Salmonella and Shigella$9.44
- Use 87045 for aerobic bacterial culture of stool. Code 87070 excludes stool specimens.
- 87086Urine cultureQuantitative colony count$8.07
- Use 87086 for urine culture. Code 87070 is for an aerobic bacterial culture from another source.
87070 billing questions
Which specimens are reported with 87070?
Use it for aerobic bacterial cultures from sources other than urine, blood, or stool. The specimen source should be clear in the laboratory record.
How does 87070 differ from a quantitative aerobic culture?
87070 reports an aerobic culture with isolation and presumptive identification. Use 87071 when the service is a quantitative aerobic culture of another specimen.
Does 87070 include organism identification?
Yes. The service includes isolation and presumptive identification of recovered organisms.
Can 87070 be used for urine, blood, or stool cultures?
No. Those specimen types have their own culture codes, including 87086 for urine, 87040 for blood, and 87045 for stool.
How does Medicare pay 87070?
Medicare pays it under the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office or facility payment difference. It is paid only from the CLFS.
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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