CPT code 87140: Culture typing, immunofluorescent method2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports immunofluorescent identification or typing of an organism recovered in culture, with reporting counted separately for each antiserum used.
Medicare pays $5.57 for 87140 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
$5.57
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 87140 covers
A microbiology laboratory uses an immunofluorescent method and antiserum to identify or characterize an organism recovered in culture. This is a typing service performed on a cultured organism, rather than the initial recovery of the organism from a patient specimen. It may be reported when the laboratory uses immunofluorescence to distinguish or identify the isolate for clinical microbiology purposes.
Report the service for each antiserum used. Medicare pays 87140 only under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS); the 2026 national amount is $5.57, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The CLFS amount is the same across states and localities, with no geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The code is excluded from the physician fee schedule and 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 87140
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 87140. 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 87140 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87140 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87140 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$5.57
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.
87140 compared with similar tests
- 87147Culture typingImmunologic method$5.18
- 87140 is specific to immunofluorescent culture typing. Use 87147 for culture typing by another immunologic method.
- 87143Culture typingGas or liquid chromatography$12.52
- 87143 covers culture typing by gas-liquid or high-performance liquid chromatography; 87140 identifies the immunofluorescent method.
- 87149Organism identificationDirect DNA or RNA probe$20.05
- 87149 reports direct DNA or RNA probe testing. Choose 87140 when the cultured organism is typed using immunofluorescence.
- 87150Amplified probeCulture or isolate$35.09
- 87150 reports amplified DNA or RNA probe testing, rather than immunofluorescent culture typing reported with 87140.
87140 billing questions
Does 87140 include the original culture?
No. It reports immunofluorescent typing or identification of an organism recovered in culture, not the culture recovery itself.
How are units counted?
The service is reported for each antiserum used. Documentation should support the antiserum-based unit count.
When should 87140 be chosen over 87147?
Use 87140 when the culture typing is performed by immunofluorescence. Code 87147 represents culture typing by another immunologic method.
Is a physician interpretation billed separately?
Medicare pays this test only through the CLFS; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
Does Medicare use a local payment amount for 87140?
No. Medicare uses one national CLFS amount across states and localities, without an office-versus-facility adjustment.
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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