CPT code 87075: Anaerobic culture, nonblood source2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports anaerobic bacterial culture with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates from a nonblood specimen, such as deep wound or abscess material.
Medicare pays $9.47 for 87075 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
$9.47
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 87075 covers
CPT 87075 covers anaerobic bacterial culture of a specimen other than blood, including isolation of organisms and presumptive identification. Clinicians may order it when an anaerobic infection is suspected, such as with deep wound or abscess material. Hospital and independent laboratories perform the culture on submitted specimens from those and other nonblood sources.
Report the code for the anaerobic culture performed; documentation should identify the specimen source and the work performed. More specific identification of an anaerobic isolate may be reported separately with 87076 when performed. Medicare pays 87075 only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $9.47, unchanged since 2020; the same amount applies across localities, with no geographic or office/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 87075
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 87075. 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 87075 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87075 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87075 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$9.47
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.
87075 compared with similar tests
- 87073Anaerobic cultureQuantitative, other specimen sources$9.66
- 87075 covers anaerobic culture with isolation and presumptive identification. 87073 is for quantitative anaerobic culture.
- 87076Anaerobic identificationEach isolate$8.08
- 87075 reports the anaerobic culture and presumptive identification; 87076 reports further identification of an anaerobic isolate.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- 87075 is for a nonblood specimen. Use 87040 for bacterial culture of blood.
- 87070Aerobic cultureNon-urine, blood, or stool$8.62
- 87070 is for aerobic bacterial culture of a nonblood source; 87075 is for anaerobic culture.
87075 billing questions
When should 87075 be chosen instead of 87040?
Use 87075 for anaerobic culture of a nonblood specimen. 87040 is the blood-culture code.
How does 87075 differ from 87073?
87075 describes anaerobic culture with isolation and presumptive identification. 87073 is used for quantitative anaerobic culture.
Can 87076 be reported with 87075?
87076 may be reported for further identification of an anaerobic isolate when that work is performed and documented.
What specimen details should the record support?
Document the specimen source and the anaerobic culture performed. The source must be other than blood for 87075.
How does Medicare pay 87075?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount, the same across 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
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