CPT code 87250: Virus isolation, egg or small-animal inoculation2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports virus isolation by inoculating embryonated eggs or a small animal, with observation and dissection included in the procedure.
Medicare pays $19.56 for 87250 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
$19.56
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 87250 covers
Code 87250 reports virus isolation by inoculating embryonated eggs or a small animal. The service includes observation of the inoculated system and dissection. Select this method when virus isolation is performed by egg or small-animal inoculation; use 87252 for isolation by tissue culture.
Medicare pays 87250 only under the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $19.56, unchanged from 2020 through 2026; one national amount applies in every state and locality, without geographic or office/facility adjustment. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule, so payment is through the CLFS. Code 87253 describes an additional tissue-culture inoculation, while 87254 identifies shell-vial virus inoculation; these are distinct method or count choices, not additional egg or animal inoculations under 87250.
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 87250
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 87250. 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 87250 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87250 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87250 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$19.56
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.
87250 compared with similar tests
- 87252Virus cultureTissue culture method$26.07
- Choose 87250 for egg or small-animal inoculation; choose 87252 when virus isolation uses tissue culture.
- 87253Virus cultureAdditional studies per isolate$20.20
- 87253 describes an additional tissue-culture inoculation, not the egg or small-animal method reported with 87250.
- 87254Virus isolationShell vial method$19.56
- 87254 identifies shell-vial virus inoculation; 87250 is for inoculation of embryonated eggs or a small animal.
87250 billing questions
When should 87250 be used instead of 87252?
Use 87250 when virus isolation is performed by inoculating embryonated eggs or a small animal. Use 87252 for virus isolation by tissue culture.
Are observation and dissection included?
Yes. Observation and dissection are included in the egg or small-animal isolation service reported with 87250.
Can 87253 be reported as an additional inoculation with 87250?
No. Code 87253 describes an additional tissue-culture inoculation, not an additional egg or small-animal inoculation under 87250.
Does modifier 26 apply to 87250?
Medicare pays 87250 only under the CLFS; it has no separate physician-fee-schedule payment.
How does Medicare price 87250?
Medicare pays one national CLFS amount per code in every locality, without geographic or office/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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