CPT code 87153: Microbial sequencing, identification of each isolate2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports identification of a cultured organism by nucleic acid sequencing, such as sequencing a bacterial isolate when species identification is needed.
Medicare pays $115.36 for 87153 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
$115.36
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 87153 covers
This service identifies an organism from a cultured isolate by sequencing its nucleic acid. A clinical microbiology laboratory may use it when an isolate needs identification, including when sequencing a gene such as 16S rRNA can help identify a bacterial isolate. The code describes sequencing-based identification, rather than a probe test or a method used to compare strain patterns.
Report the service for each isolate sequenced. Medicare pays it through the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $115.36, the same amount listed for every year from 2020 through 2026. The amount is uniform across states and localities, with no geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. The physician fee schedule excludes this code; Medicare pays it 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 87153
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 87153. 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 87153 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87153 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87153 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$115.36
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.
87153 compared with similar tests
- 87149Organism identificationDirect DNA or RNA probe$20.05
- 87149 describes direct nucleic acid probe identification. Choose 87153 when identification is performed by sequencing a cultured isolate.
- 87150Amplified probeCulture or isolate$35.09
- 87150 uses an amplified probe method, while 87153 uses nucleic acid sequencing to identify a cultured isolate.
- 87152Organism typingPulse-field gel method$7.74
- 87152 uses pulsed-field gel electrophoresis for culture typing; 87153 identifies an isolate through nucleic acid sequencing.
- 87154Blood pathogen testAmplified probe, six-plus targets$218.06
- 87154 is for identification of blood culture pathogens using six or more targets. Use 87153 for sequencing-based identification of an isolate.
87153 billing questions
When should this code be chosen over a nucleic acid probe code?
Use this code when the organism is identified by sequencing nucleic acid from a cultured isolate. Probe codes describe identification by a probe method, not sequencing.
How many units are reported?
The service is reported for each isolate sequenced. Base the units on the number of isolates actually tested.
Does the code describe sequencing directly from a patient specimen?
It describes identification of an organism by sequencing in the culture-typing context. Report it for sequencing an isolate.
Is a physician interpretation billed separately?
Medicare pays this code through the CLFS; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
Does Medicare use a different amount for office and facility settings?
No. The CLFS amount is nationally uniform, with no locality or 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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