HCPCS code G0144: Cervical cytology, automated thin-layer screen2026 Medicare lab fee · Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule
Reports cervical or vaginal cytology screening of a preservative-fluid specimen prepared by an automated thin-layer method and screened by an automated system.
Medicare pays $43.97 for G0144 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
$43.97
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 G0144 covers
G0144 covers screening cytopathology of cervical or vaginal material collected in preservative fluid and prepared as an automated thin layer. An automated system screens the specimen under physician supervision. The code covers cervical or vaginal screening material regardless of the cytology reporting system. It identifies a screening workflow rather than diagnostic cytology.
Report G0144 when the specimen preparation and screening workflow match this service. Medicare pays it only through the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the physician fee schedule. The 2026 national CLFS amount is $43.97, unchanged since 2020. One amount applies across states and localities, without a geographic or office-versus-facility adjustment. The physician fee schedule excludes the test, so Medicare payment is through the CLFS.
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 G0144
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 G0144. 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 G0144 with status X (excluded by statute), so the test itself is paid only from the CLFS.
G0144 on the lab fee schedule since 2020
G0144 · CLFS 2026 Q4 (current)
$43.97
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.
G0144 compared with similar tests
- G0143Pap screeningManual screen and rescreen$27.05
- Both are thin-layer cervical or vaginal screening cytopathology codes. Select G0144 when the documented workflow includes screening by an automated system under physician supervision.
- G0145Cervical cytologyAutomated screen, manual rescreen$26.49
- G0145 is another thin-layer cervical or vaginal screening code. Base the choice on the documented laboratory workflow; G0144 specifies automated-system screening under physician supervision.
- G0147Cervical cytologyAutomated screening$18.54
- Both concern automated-system cervical or vaginal screening cytopathology. G0144 identifies preservative-fluid collection and automated thin-layer preparation, as well as automated screening under physician supervision.
G0144 billing questions
When should G0144 be selected over another cervical cytology code?
Use G0144 when the documented service is cervical or vaginal screening with preservative-fluid collection, automated thin-layer preparation, and automated-system screening under physician supervision. Other codes in this family describe different cytology workflows.
Does G0144 identify a screening or diagnostic test?
It identifies screening cytopathology. Use it for a screening service, rather than to represent diagnostic evaluation of an abnormal finding.
Is a physician interpretation separately payable with G0144?
The test is paid only through the CLFS; G0144 is excluded from the physician fee schedule.
What specimen and screening details support G0144?
Documentation should support cervical or vaginal material collected in preservative fluid, automated thin-layer preparation, and automated-system screening under physician supervision.
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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