CPT code 87492: Chlamydia test, quantitative nucleic acid2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Quantitative nucleic acid testing measures Chlamydia trachomatis genetic material when a clinician requests an organism-specific result expressed as a quantity.
Medicare pays $53.47 for 87492 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
$53.47
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 87492 covers
This molecular laboratory test detects and quantifies nucleic acid from Chlamydia trachomatis, the bacterium that causes chlamydia. A clinical laboratory reports the quantitative result when the ordered test calls for an amount rather than a detection-only result. The quantitative method distinguishes this service from direct-probe and amplified-probe tests for the same organism.
Report 87492 for the quantitative test performed, rather than for every Chlamydia trachomatis nucleic acid test. Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount per code in every state and locality, with no geographic or office/facility adjustment. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $53.47, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The test is paid only through the CLFS and is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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 87492
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 87492. 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 87492 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87492 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87492 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$53.47
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.
87492 compared with similar tests
- 87490Chlamydia testDirect DNA probe$22.75
- Choose 87490 for a direct-probe Chlamydia trachomatis test. Choose 87492 when the service quantifies the organism's nucleic acid.
- 87491Chlamydia testAmplified nucleic acid detection$35.09
- 87491 describes an amplified-probe test for Chlamydia trachomatis; 87492 describes the quantitative test.
- 87494CT/NG assayMultiplex amplified probe$70.18
- 87494 is for a combined Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae test. Code 87492 is specific to quantitative Chlamydia trachomatis testing.
87492 billing questions
How does 87492 differ from 87491?
87492 is for quantitative nucleic acid testing of Chlamydia trachomatis. Code 87491 describes an amplified-probe test, rather than the quantitative service.
When is 87490 the better choice?
Use 87490 when the test performed uses a direct probe for Chlamydia trachomatis. Code 87492 is for the quantitative test.
Does 87492 describe a combined chlamydia and gonorrhea test?
No. Code 87492 is specific to quantitative Chlamydia trachomatis testing; 87494 describes a combined Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae test.
What result does 87492 represent?
It represents quantitative nucleic acid testing for Chlamydia trachomatis, rather than a detection-only result.
How does Medicare pay 87492?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS using one national amount per code, without geographic or office/facility adjustment. It is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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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