CPT code 87088: Urine culture, isolate identification2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports isolation and presumptive identification of each bacterial isolate recovered from a urine culture, typically after quantitative culture.
Medicare pays $8.09 for 87088 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
$8.09
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 87088 covers
A microbiology laboratory cultures a urine specimen and reports this service when bacteria are isolated and presumptively identified. It applies to isolate-identification work, not simply screening urine for bacterial growth or counting colonies. Urine cultures are commonly ordered to evaluate suspected urinary tract infection, with the ordering clinician interpreting the results alongside the patient’s symptoms and other findings.
Report 87088 for each isolate identified, in addition to the quantitative urine culture code 87086 when that service is performed. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing is a separate service when performed. Medicare pays 87088 only through the CLFS; the 2026 national amount is $8.09 and has been unchanged since 2020. The same CLFS amount applies in every state and locality, without an office or facility 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 87088
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 87088. 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 87088 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87088 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87088 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$8.09
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.
87088 compared with similar tests
- 87086Urine cultureQuantitative colony count$8.07
- 87086 reports quantitative urine culture and colony count. 87088 reports isolation and presumptive identification of each recovered isolate.
- 87040Blood cultureBacterial culture$10.32
- Use 87040 for bacterial culture of blood. Code 87088 is specific to urine isolates.
- 87070Aerobic cultureNon-urine, blood, or stool$8.62
- 87070 is used for aerobic bacterial culture of other specimen types; 87088 is for isolate identification from urine culture.
- 87081Culture screenScreening only$6.63
- 87081 describes a culture used for screening. 87088 reports isolate identification from a urine culture, not screening alone.
87088 billing questions
When should 87088 be reported instead of 87086?
87086 reports the quantitative urine culture and colony count. Report 87088 for isolation and presumptive identification of each recovered isolate; it supplements rather than replaces 87086.
How many units of 87088 should be billed?
Report one unit for each isolate that is isolated and presumptively identified. Do not base the units on the colony count.
Does 87088 include antimicrobial susceptibility testing?
No. 87088 describes isolate identification; susceptibility testing is separately coded when performed.
How does Medicare pay for 87088?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount per code. The amount is the same across localities and settings.
Is 87088 the right code for a blood culture isolate?
No. 87088 is specific to urine isolates. Use 87040 for bacterial culture of blood.
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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