CPT code 87210: Wet mount, saline, India ink, or KOH2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
A wet mount examines a primary-source specimen for infectious agents using preparations such as saline, India ink, or KOH, with interpretation.
Medicare pays $5.82 for 87210 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
$5.82
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
- $5.82
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 87210 covers
This service examines a primary-source specimen prepared as a wet mount to look for infectious agents. Common applications include saline microscopy of vaginal secretions when evaluating for organisms such as Trichomonas, India ink preparation of cerebrospinal fluid, and KOH preparation to look for fungal elements. The examination and interpretation are part of the reported service.
Report 87210 for the wet-mount method rather than for a Gram stain or another staining technique. Modifier QW identifies the CLIA-waived version, which may be performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver. Medicare pays the test from the CLFS; the 2026 national amount is $5.82, unchanged since 2020. The same CLFS amount applies in every state and locality, without a geographic adjustment or office-versus-facility difference. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule 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 87210
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 87210. 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 87210 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
CLIA-waived version (QW)
CMS also lists 87210 with modifier QW, the version labs holding a CLIA certificate of waiver bill. It pays $5.82.
87210 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87210 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$5.82
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.
87210 compared with similar tests
- 87205Gram stainPrimary-source smear$4.27
- Choose 87210 for a saline, India ink, or KOH wet mount. Choose 87205 when the reported method is a Gram stain.
- 87209Parasite stainComplex special stain$17.98
- Code 87210 represents a wet-mount preparation; 87209 is for a complex stain preparation.
- 87220KOH examinationSkin, hair, or nail specimens$4.27
- Code 87210 is a wet-mount examination for infectious agents. Code 87220 applies when the service is a tissue examination for fungi.
87210 billing questions
When should 87210 be reported instead of 87205?
Use 87210 for a wet-mount preparation, such as a saline, India ink, or KOH preparation. Use 87205 when the specimen is examined with a Gram stain.
Does 87210 include interpretation?
The service includes interpretation of the wet-mount examination. The code is paid through the CLFS, not as a physician-fee-schedule service.
When is modifier QW appropriate?
Modifier QW identifies the CLIA-waived version of the test. That version may be performed at a site holding a CLIA certificate of waiver.
Does Medicare pay differently for office and facility testing?
No. The CLFS amount is the same across localities and does not vary between office and facility settings.
How does 87210 differ from a fungal tissue examination?
87210 describes a wet mount for infectious agents. Code 87220 is for examining tissue for fungi, rather than reporting this wet-mount service.
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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