CPT code 87902: Hepatitis C genotype, nucleic acid analysis2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Nucleic acid analysis identifies hepatitis C virus genotype, providing clinicians with genotype information when evaluating HCV infection and planning treatment.
Medicare pays $257.45 for 87902 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
$257.45
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 7 sections
What 87902 covers
This laboratory analysis uses nucleic acid testing to characterize hepatitis C virus by genotype. It reports viral genotype rather than the amount of HCV RNA. Clinicians may use genotype information when evaluating HCV infection and planning treatment; a clinical laboratory performs and reports the analysis.
Report 87902 for the HCV nucleic acid genotype analysis, not for a separate viral-load measurement. Medicare pays the code only through the CLFS, at one nationally set amount applicable across states and localities, without geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The 2026 national amount is $257.45, unchanged from 2020 through 2026. The code 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 87902
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 87902. 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 87902 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
87902 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
87902 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$257.45
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.
87902 compared with similar tests
- 87912Hepatitis B genotypingNucleic acid analysis$257.45
- Use 87902 for hepatitis C virus genotype analysis and 87912 for hepatitis B virus genotype analysis.
- 87901HIV genotypeRT and protease regions$257.45
- Use 87902 for hepatitis C genotyping; 87901 describes HIV-1 genotype analysis.
- 87900Drug susceptibilityGenotype-based bioinformatics prediction$130.35
- Code 87902 reports HCV nucleic acid genotype analysis. Code 87900 describes infectious-agent drug-response phenotype analysis.
87902 billing questions
How is this different from hepatitis C viral-load testing?
This test identifies the HCV genotype. Viral-load testing measures the amount of HCV RNA.
Is 87912 interchangeable with this code?
No. Report 87902 for hepatitis C virus genotype analysis and 87912 for hepatitis B virus genotype analysis.
Can this code report HIV-1 genotype analysis?
No. This code is specific to hepatitis C virus. Codes 87901 and 87906 describe HIV-1 genotype analyses.
Does Medicare pay separately for a physician interpretation?
Medicare pays this code only through the CLFS; it is excluded from the physician fee schedule by statute.
How does Medicare set payment for this test?
Medicare uses one national CLFS amount across states and localities, with no geographic or office-versus-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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