CPT code 87510: Gardnerella test, direct probe technique2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
A direct-probe test detects Gardnerella vaginalis in a vaginal specimen during evaluation of vaginitis or suspected bacterial vaginosis.
Medicare pays $20.05 for 87510 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
$20.05
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 87510 covers
This laboratory test detects Gardnerella vaginalis using a direct probe method. It is commonly ordered during evaluation of vaginal symptoms or suspected bacterial vaginosis. A clinician collects the specimen and a laboratory performs and reports the organism-specific result; the test identifies G. vaginalis rather than measuring a quantity or detecting every cause of vaginitis.
Report 87510 for the direct-probe assay. When the evaluation also calls for testing other common causes of vaginitis, those organism-specific tests are reported separately when performed. Medicare pays 87510 only under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $20.05, unchanged from 2020 through 2025. The amount is uniform across states and localities, with no office-versus-facility difference. The code 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 87510
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 87510. 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 87510 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87510 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87510 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$20.05
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.
87510 compared with similar tests
- 87511Gardnerella testAmplified probe$35.09
- Use 87510 for direct-probe detection of Gardnerella vaginalis; use 87511 when the laboratory performs an amplified probe assay.
- 87512Gardnerella testQuantitative nucleic acid$41.76
- 87510 reports direct-probe detection. 87512 is the quantitative Gardnerella vaginalis test.
- 87660Trichomonas testDirect probe$20.05
- 87660 tests for Trichomonas vaginalis, not Gardnerella vaginalis. The two tests may be reported together when both are performed.
87510 billing questions
How does 87510 differ from 87511?
Both detect Gardnerella vaginalis, but 87510 is for the direct-probe method and 87511 is for an amplified probe method. Select the code that matches the method performed.
When should 87512 be reported instead?
87512 is the quantitative Gardnerella vaginalis test. Use 87510 for direct-probe detection when the service is not a quantitative assay.
Can 87510 be reported with other vaginitis tests?
Yes, when separate tests are performed for other suspected causes, such as Candida or Trichomonas. Report each test performed for its own target.
How does Medicare pay for 87510?
Medicare pays the test under the CLFS at one national amount, the same across localities and settings. The code 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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