Medicare Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) 2022One national amount for every lab test

What Medicare pays for each clinical lab test in 2022, from CMS’s quarterly Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule file: the most-billed tests, every code with its amount, and what changed this quarter.

CMS CLFS 2022 Q4Effective Oct 1, 20221,679 national amounts · 106 contractor-pricedCMS file

On this page 6 sections
  1. How lab tests are paid
  2. Most-billed tests
  3. Find any lab test
  4. This quarter’s changes
  5. Related schedules
  6. Sources

This is the lab fee schedule as of CLFS 2022 Q4, the last 2022 release. Code pages show today’s amounts; see the current lab fee schedule.

How Medicare pays lab tests

Clinical lab tests aren’t built from relative value units like physician services. CMS publishes one Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule amount per test, the most Medicare pays for it anywhere in the country, and updates the file every quarter.

1,679lab codes with a national amount
106priced by each Medicare contractor

No locality or setting split

There’s no geographic (GPCI) adjustment and no office or facility rate: a test pays the same amount in every state, whoever performs it.

The lesser of charge and amount

Medicare pays the lower of the lab’s charge and the CLFS amount. Patients usually owe no Part B deductible or coinsurance for covered lab tests.

Quarterly releases

Amounts are reset each January. New tests join during the year, many of them proprietary laboratory analyses (PLA codes ending in U).

Contractor-priced tests

Codes with indicator L have no national amount. Each Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) prices them for its jurisdiction.

Most-billed lab tests

The 25 lab tests Medicare paid most often in 2024, with their 2022 national amount. Select a code for its amount history and billing rules.

Most-billed Medicare lab tests and their 2022 CLFS amounts
TestNational amount2024 services
36415VenipunctureRoutine venous sample$3.0040.3M
80053Metabolic panelFourteen blood chemistry tests$10.5627.2M
85025Complete CBCAutomated differential$7.7726.2M
80061Lipid panelCholesterol and triglycerides$13.3917.3M
83036A1c testLaboratory assay$9.7114.6M
84443TSH testThyroid-stimulating hormone$16.8013.9M
87798Infectious agent testAmplified probe, each organism$35.0912.7M
82306Vitamin D test25-hydroxy level$29.606.4M
81001UrinalysisAutomated with microscopy$3.176.4M
81003UrinalysisAutomated, without microscopy$2.255.7M
82570Urine creatinineUrine specimen$5.185.5M
84439Free T4Unbound thyroxine$9.025.5M
80048Basic metabolic panelTotal calcium$8.465.1M
82607Vitamin B12Level assay$15.084.7M
82043Urine albuminQuantitative measurement$5.784.5M
87086Urine cultureQuantitative colony count$8.074.4M
83540Iron assaySerum iron concentration$6.473.6M
83735Magnesium$6.703.5M
82728FerritinBlood ferritin level$13.633.5M
85027Complete CBCWithout automated differential$6.473.3M
84153Total PSA$18.393.3M
85610Prothrombin timeRoutine coagulation test$4.293.3M
87481Candida DNA testAmplified probe$35.092.9M
83550Iron bindingBinding capacity$8.742.9M
87186Susceptibility testMicrodilution or agar dilution$8.652.7M

Ranked by 2024 Medicare Part B services, office and facility combined, among tests with a national amount. Every code by volume

Find any lab test

Every lab code on CLFS 2022 Q4: CPT lab codes first, then multianalyte (M), proprietary (U) and HCPCS codes.

What changed in CLFS 2022 Q4

Compared with CLFS 2022 Q3 (effective Jul 1, 2022): 23 codes added and 4 removed.

Added 23

Lab codes added in CLFS 2022 Q4
TestCLFS 2022 Q4 amount
0332UImmunotherapy response profileEight epigenetic markersSet by MAC
0333ULiver cancer surveillancecfDNA and serum-marker algorithmSet by MAC
0334UTumor sequencing84 or more genesSet by MAC
0335UFetal genome testRare disease analysisSet by MAC
0336UParent genomeComparator genomeSet by MAC
0337UPlasma Cell AssayPeripheral BloodSet by MAC
0338UTumor cell assayPeripheral blood, HER2 quantificationSet by MAC
0339UProstate RNA testHOXC6 and DLX1 expressionSet by MAC
0340UCancer MRD assayPersonalized plasma DNA$3,920.00
0341UFetal DNA testProducts of conceptionSet by MAC

Showing 10 of 23.

Removed 4

Lab codes removed in CLFS 2022 Q4
TestCLFS 2022 Q3 amount
0012UName pending$2,515.60
0013UName pending$2,515.60
0014UName pending$2,515.60
0056UName pending$2,515.60

Sources

Amounts come straight from the CMS Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule file for the quarter: one row per code with its payment indicator and amount. Contractor-priced tests are labeled, never given a made-up amount. Test names are written by FeeBase; CMS’s code descriptors aren’t reproduced.

CMS CLFS 2022 Q4 · effective Oct 1, 2022 through the day before Jan 1, 2023

Open CMS sourceHow we source rates

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