CPT code 88152: Pap test, manual and computer-assisted rescreen2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports cervical or vaginal Pap slide screening performed manually with computer-assisted rescreening under physician supervision.
Medicare pays $27.64 for 88152 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
$27.64
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 88152 covers
This service is for cervical or vaginal Pap cytology slides that receive an initial manual screen followed by computer-assisted rescreening. It is performed in a cytology laboratory, typically by cytology staff working under physician supervision. The result supports assessment of cervical or vaginal cells for cytologic abnormalities; it is not the code for a thin-layer preparation or for a smear from another body site.
Report the service for the slide-screening workflow described, rather than choosing a code based only on the clinical reason for the Pap test. Medicare pays 88152 through the CLFS, with one national amount for all states and localities and no office-versus-facility difference. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $27.64, unchanged since 2020. The test is paid only through the CLFS, not the physician fee schedule. A separately performed physician interpretation may be reported with the applicable interpretation code when supported.
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 88152
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 88152. 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 88152 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
88152 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
88152 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$27.64
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.
88152 compared with similar tests
- 88148Pap testAutomated with manual rescreen$18.54
- 88152 uses manual screening followed by computer-assisted rescreening. 88148 uses automated screening followed by manual rescreening.
- 88150Pap testManual slide screening$18.54
- 88150 is manual screening of cervical or vaginal slides; 88152 also includes computer-assisted rescreening.
- 88142Pap testPreservative fluid, manual screening$20.26
- 88142 identifies cervical or vaginal cytology using a thin-layer method. Select 88152 for the specified slide-based manual and computer-assisted rescreening workflow.
- 88141Pap interpretationPhysician interpretation and report$21.72–$31.60
- 88141 represents physician interpretation of cervical or vaginal cytology, rather than the screening workflow reported with 88152.
88152 billing questions
When should 88152 be chosen over 88148?
Choose 88152 for manual screening followed by computer-assisted rescreening. Code 88148 describes automated screening with manual rescreening.
How does 88152 differ from 88150?
88150 represents manual screening of cervical or vaginal slides. 88152 includes computer-assisted rescreening after the manual screen.
Is a physician interpretation included in 88152?
The code describes the slide-screening workflow under physician supervision. A separately performed physician interpretation may be reported with 88141 when appropriate.
Does Medicare pay 88152 under the physician fee schedule?
No. Medicare pays this test through the CLFS, at one national amount applicable across localities and settings.
What should the laboratory record support?
Documentation should support cervical or vaginal Pap slides and the manual screening with computer-assisted rescreening workflow reported.
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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