CPT code 87660: Trichomonas test, direct probe2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
A direct nucleic acid probe test detects Trichomonas vaginalis, commonly during evaluation of vaginal discharge, vaginitis, or suspected genital infection.
Medicare pays $20.05 for 87660 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 87660 covers
This laboratory test detects genetic material from Trichomonas vaginalis, a genital parasite, using a direct-probe nucleic acid method. It is used in evaluating suspected trichomoniasis, including patients assessed for vaginitis or vaginal discharge. Testing is generally performed by a clinical laboratory on a vaginal specimen collected in a clinical setting; the ordering clinician interprets the result with the patient’s symptoms and examination.
Report 87660 for the direct-probe Trichomonas test, rather than the amplification method represented by 87661. Candida species and Gardnerella vaginalis direct-probe tests are separately identified by 87480 and 87510 when those targets are tested. Medicare pays this laboratory service through the CLFS at one national amount, with no locality or office-versus-facility adjustment; the 2026 amount is $20.05, unchanged since 2020. The physician fee schedule does not pay the test.
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 87660
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 87660. 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 87660 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87660 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87660 · 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.
87660 compared with similar tests
- 87661Trichomonas testAmplified nucleic acid$35.09
- Both detect Trichomonas vaginalis, but 87660 is for a direct-probe method and 87661 is for an amplification method.
- 87480Candida probeDirect probe$20.05
- 87480 detects Candida species by direct probe; 87660 detects Trichomonas vaginalis.
- 87510Gardnerella testDirect probe technique$20.05
- 87510 detects Gardnerella vaginalis by direct probe; 87660 detects Trichomonas vaginalis.
87660 billing questions
How does this code differ from 87661?
87660 identifies a direct-probe test for Trichomonas vaginalis. Code 87661 identifies testing by an amplification method.
Is this a general vaginitis panel code?
No. It identifies testing for Trichomonas vaginalis. Candida and Gardnerella direct-probe tests are identified separately by 87480 and 87510.
Are Candida or Gardnerella tests included in 87660?
No. They test for different organisms and have separate codes: 87480 for Candida species and 87510 for Gardnerella vaginalis.
How does Medicare pay for 87660?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS using one national amount across localities, with no office-versus-facility adjustment. The physician fee schedule does not pay this test.
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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