CPT code 88142: Pap test, preservative fluid, manual screening2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports manual screening under physician supervision of a cervical or vaginal Pap specimen collected in preservative fluid and prepared using a thin-layer method.
Medicare pays $20.26 for 88142 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
$20.26
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 88142 covers
This Pap test evaluates cervical or vaginal cells for abnormalities, commonly as part of cervical cancer screening or follow-up. The specimen is collected in preservative fluid and prepared as a thin layer; a laboratory cytotechnologist performs manual screening under physician supervision. The code identifies the screening service, not an HPV assay or a conventional direct smear.
Report 88142 for the thin-layer preparation with manual screening. Medicare pays it only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), at one national amount regardless of locality or office versus facility setting. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $20.26, unchanged since 2020. The test is excluded from the physician fee schedule. When a physician performs a separate interpretation, 88141 may be relevant in addition to the screening code.
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 88142
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 88142. 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 88142 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
88142 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
88142 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$20.26
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.
88142 compared with similar tests
- 88141Pap interpretationPhysician interpretation and report$21.72–$31.60
- 88142 reports manual screening of a thin-layer specimen. Use 88141 for a separate physician interpretation, not as a substitute for the screening code.
- 88143Pap screeningManual screening and rescreening$23.04
- 88142 describes manual screening of a thin-layer specimen; 88143 is the related redo code for thin-layer cervical or vaginal cytology.
- 88147Pap testAutomated screening$50.56
- 88142 is for manual screening; 88147 applies when cervical or vaginal cytology screening is performed with an automated method.
- 88150Pap testManual slide screening$18.54
- 88142 is for a preservative-fluid thin-layer preparation. 88150 applies to cervical or vaginal cytology prepared as a smear.
88142 billing questions
When should 88142 be selected instead of 88150?
Use 88142 for a cervical or vaginal specimen collected in preservative fluid and prepared as a thin layer. Code 88150 is for a cervical or vaginal cytology smear using a different preparation approach.
How does 88142 differ from 88147?
88142 describes manual screening of a thin-layer preparation. 88147 is for cervical or vaginal cytology screened using an automated method.
Can 88141 be reported with 88142?
88141 may be reported for a separate physician interpretation in addition to the screening service when that interpretation is performed. It does not replace 88142.
What specimen supports 88142?
The code applies to cervical or vaginal cytology collected in preservative fluid and prepared as a thin layer. It is not the code for a smear from another body site.
How does Medicare pay 88142?
Medicare pays 88142 from the CLFS using one national amount across localities and office or facility settings. The test 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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