CPT code 87077: Aerobic identification, definitive identification, each isolate2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports additional laboratory methods to definitively identify an aerobic bacterial isolate when further identification is required, with each isolate reported separately.
Medicare pays $8.08 for 87077 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
$8.08
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
- QW · CLIA-waived test
- $8.08
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 87077 covers
87077 represents additional laboratory methods needed to definitively identify an aerobic bacterial isolate recovered in culture. The work is performed in a clinical microbiology laboratory after aerobic growth is recovered; it identifies the isolate rather than reporting the culture that produced it. Report it when the isolate requires additional methods for definitive identification.
Report one unit for each isolate requiring the additional identification work. CMS lists modifier QW for the CLIA-waived version, which may be performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays 87077 through the CLFS at one national amount in every state and locality, without an office or facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $8.08, unchanged since 2020. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute and is paid only through the CLFS.
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 87077
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 87077. 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 87077 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 87077 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $8.08.
87077 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87077 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.08
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.
87077 compared with similar tests
- 87070Aerobic cultureNon-urine, blood, or stool$8.62
- 87070 reports an aerobic culture of another specimen; 87077 reports additional methods to definitively identify an aerobic isolate recovered from culture.
- 87076Anaerobic identificationEach isolate$8.08
- Use 87077 for additional identification of an aerobic isolate and 87076 for additional identification of an anaerobic isolate.
- 87081Culture screenScreening only$6.63
- 87081 is for culture screening. 87077 is for additional identification when a recovered aerobic isolate needs definitive identification.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- 87040 reports bacterial blood culture. 87077 reports additional identification of an aerobic isolate and does not itself represent the blood culture.
87077 billing questions
When should 87077 be reported instead of 87070?
87070 represents an aerobic culture of another specimen. Report 87077 for additional methods needed to definitively identify a recovered aerobic isolate.
How many units of 87077 should be reported?
Report one unit for each aerobic isolate requiring the additional identification work.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
Use QW for the CLIA-waived version when testing is performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
Does Medicare pay 87077 under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS; its physician fee schedule status is excluded by statute.
Is 87077 the initial bacterial culture?
No. It reports additional methods to identify an aerobic isolate, not the culture that recovers the organism.
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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