CPT code 87329: Giardia antigen, immunoassay detection2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
A stool immunoassay detects Giardia antigen and supports evaluation of suspected giardiasis, including parasitic causes of diarrhea.
Medicare pays $11.98 for 87329 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
$11.98
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 87329 covers
This laboratory test detects Giardia, an intestinal parasite, by immunoassay. It is commonly performed on stool when a clinician evaluates diarrhea or other symptoms that raise concern for giardiasis. Clinical laboratories typically report a qualitative or semiquantitative result; the test targets Giardia rather than identifying parasites generally or screening for unrelated enteric pathogens.
Report 87329 for the Giardia antigen immunoassay performed. Medicare pays it only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), at one national amount with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $11.98, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute.
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 87329
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 87329. 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 87329 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87329 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87329 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$11.98
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.
87329 compared with similar tests
- 87328Cryptosporidium antigenImmunoassay detection$13.82
- Choose 87329 for Giardia antigen and 87328 for Cryptosporidium antigen. The targets are different organisms, even when both tests use stool.
- 87177Ova and parasitesSmear and concentration$8.90
- 87177 describes an ova-and-parasite concentration examination. Use 87329 when the laboratory performs a Giardia antigen immunoassay instead.
- 87209Parasite stainComplex special stain$17.98
- 87209 describes microscopic ova-and-parasite examination. Use 87329 when the laboratory performs a Giardia antigen immunoassay.
87329 billing questions
When should 87329 be chosen instead of a parasite microscopy code?
Use 87329 when the performed test is a Giardia antigen immunoassay. Ova-and-parasite microscopy codes describe microscopic examination, not this antigen method.
How does 87329 differ from the Cryptosporidium antigen code?
87329 targets Giardia; 87328 targets Cryptosporidium. They may be ordered together when evaluating stool for these distinct intestinal parasites.
Does the code identify Giardia alone or a group of parasites?
It reports an immunoassay for Giardia antigen, not a general or polyvalent parasite antigen result.
How does Medicare pay for 87329?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office-versus-facility payment difference. It is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute.
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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