CPT code 87073: Anaerobic culture, quantitative, other specimen sources2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports quantitative anaerobic bacterial culture and colony-count evaluation for specimens other than urine, blood, or stool.
Medicare pays $9.66 for 87073 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
$9.66
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 87073 covers
The laboratory cultures material from a source other than urine, blood, or stool under anaerobic conditions, quantifies bacterial growth, and isolates and presumptively identifies organisms. This code describes a quantitative anaerobic bacterial culture; the specimen source helps distinguish it from source-specific culture pathways. The service includes presumptive identification, not definitive identification of each anaerobic isolate.
Report 87073 for the quantitative anaerobic culture service. When additional methods are used to definitively identify an anaerobic isolate, 87076 may be reported for each isolate. Medicare pays this test only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS). The 2026 national CLFS amount is $9.66, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The same amount applies across states and localities, with no office or facility payment difference.
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 87073
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 87073. 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 87073 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87073 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87073 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$9.66
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.
87073 compared with similar tests
- 87075Anaerobic cultureNonblood source$9.47
- Both are anaerobic cultures for sources other than urine, blood, or stool. Choose 87073 for quantitative culture and colony-count evaluation; 87075 is the nonquantitative pathway.
- 87071Aerobic cultureQuantitative, nonblood source$9.89
- 87073 is for quantitative anaerobic culture, while 87071 is for quantitative aerobic culture from other specimen sources.
- 87076Anaerobic identificationEach isolate$8.08
- 87073 covers quantitative culture and presumptive identification. Use 87076 for definitive identification of an anaerobic isolate when additional methods are used.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- Use 87040 for bacterial blood culture. Code 87073 applies to other specimen sources, not blood.
87073 billing questions
When should this code be chosen instead of 87075?
Use 87073 for quantitative anaerobic culture and colony-count evaluation. Code 87075 is the anaerobic culture pathway without the quantitative distinction.
Can this code be used for blood, urine, or stool specimens?
No. This code is for sources other than blood, urine, and stool; those specimen types have separate culture pathways.
Does 87073 include definitive identification of every anaerobic isolate?
It includes presumptive identification. When additional methods are used for definitive identification, 87076 may be reported for each isolate.
How does 87073 differ from 87071?
Both describe quantitative cultures from sources other than urine, blood, or stool. Use 87073 for anaerobic bacteria and 87071 for aerobic bacteria.
How does Medicare pay for this test?
Medicare pays 87073 only through the CLFS, at one national amount across states, localities, and office or facility settings.
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
Fee sheets
Put 87073 and the rest of your codes on one sheet
Your codes at your locality, with payer contracts beside Medicare.
Build my fee sheet