CPT code 88175: Pap test, automated with manual rescreening2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports a cervical or vaginal Pap test prepared as a thin layer from preservative fluid, screened by an automated system and manually rescreened or reviewed.
Medicare pays $26.61 for 88175 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
$26.61
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 88175 covers
This service evaluates cervical or vaginal cells for cytologic abnormalities. The specimen is collected in preservative fluid and prepared as a thin layer, then screened by an automated system and manually rescreened or reviewed under physician supervision. Cytology laboratories perform the preparation and screening for Pap testing used in cervical cancer screening and cytologic follow-up.
Report 88175 once for a Pap specimen processed with this automated-plus-manual workflow. It distinguishes fluid-based thin-layer preparation with automated screening and manual rescreening or review from manual screening of a fluid-based preparation and from conventional smear preparation. Medicare pays the service only through the CLFS. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $26.61, unchanged since 2020; the same amount applies in every locality, with no geographic or office/facility adjustment. The code is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
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 88175
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 88175. 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 88175 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
88175 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
88175 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$26.61
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.
88175 compared with similar tests
- 88174Pap cytologyAutomated thin layer$25.37
- Both involve fluid-based thin-layer Pap preparation. Use 88175 when screening is automated and followed by manual rescreening or review; 88174 describes manual screening.
- 88150Pap testManual slide screening$18.54
- 88150 is for conventional smear preparation with manual screening; 88175 is for a fluid-based thin-layer specimen with automated screening and manual review.
- 88152Pap testManual and computer-assisted rescreen$27.64
- 88152 uses conventional smear preparation with automated screening and manual rescreening or review. 88175 identifies the corresponding fluid-based thin-layer workflow.
88175 billing questions
When should the laboratory report 88175 rather than 88174?
Use 88175 for a preservative-fluid thin-layer Pap specimen screened by an automated system and then manually rescreened or reviewed. Use 88174 for manual screening of a fluid-based thin-layer preparation.
Does 88175 describe a conventional smear?
No. It describes thin-layer preparation from a specimen collected in preservative fluid. Conventional smear preparation is represented by a different cytopathology code.
Does 88175 include manual rescreening or review?
Yes. Manual rescreening or review under physician supervision is part of the service described by this code.
How many units should be reported?
Report one service for each Pap specimen processed using this workflow; the unit is not based on the number of cells reviewed.
How does Medicare pay 88175?
Medicare pays it through the CLFS at one national amount across localities, with no office or facility difference. It 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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