CPT code 88147: Pap test, automated screening2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports automated-system screening of a cervical or vaginal Pap specimen for cellular abnormalities under physician supervision.
Medicare pays $50.56 for 88147 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
$50.56
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 88147 covers
This service is automated screening of cervical or vaginal cells in a Pap specimen. Cytology laboratories perform the screening under physician supervision. It is used for cervical cancer screening. The reported service is the laboratory examination, not collection. Select 88147 when automated screening is performed and the specimen is not processed using a distinct thin-layer method in preservative fluid. A physician's interpretation and report, when separately provided and reportable, is represented by 88141.
Report 88147 for automated screening; 88150 identifies manual screening, while 88174 covers automated thin-layer screening of a specimen collected in preservative fluid. Medicare pays 88147 only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $50.56 and has remained unchanged since 2020; it is the same in every locality and does not vary by office or facility setting.
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 88147
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 88147. 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 88147 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
88147 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
88147 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$50.56
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.
88147 compared with similar tests
- 88148Pap testAutomated with manual rescreen$18.54
- 88147 describes automated screening; 88148 is for automated rescreening.
- 88150Pap testManual slide screening$18.54
- Both concern cervical or vaginal Pap screening, but 88150 is for manual screening rather than automated screening.
- 88142Pap testPreservative fluid, manual screening$20.26
- 88142 specifies thin-layer preparation with manual screening. 88147 is for automated screening.
- 88174Pap cytologyAutomated thin layer$25.37
- 88174 specifies a preservative-fluid specimen and automated thin-layer preparation with automated screening; 88147 identifies automated screening without those preparation details.
88147 billing questions
When should 88147 be used instead of 88150?
Use 88147 when the cervical or vaginal Pap specimen is screened by an automated system. Use 88150 when screening is performed manually.
Does 88147 include a physician interpretation?
88147 reports automated screening under physician supervision. A separately provided, reportable physician interpretation may be reported with 88141.
Is 88147 the right code for a liquid-based Pap test?
For a specimen collected in preservative fluid and screened using automated thin-layer preparation, compare 88174.
How does 88147 differ from 88148?
88147 reports automated screening. 88148 identifies automated rescreening.
How does Medicare pay 88147?
Medicare pays the test through the CLFS at one national amount that applies across localities and office or facility settings.
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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