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CPT 80179

Priced under CLFS

80179 · CLFS Q4 2026

National CLFS allowed amount · Q4 2026

$18.64

National lab fee-schedule amount, before sequestration. No locality adjustment applies to this amount.

No Physician Fee Schedule amount—priced under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule.

View CLFS amount and evidence
View CMS source and method

The national CLFS allowed amount is $18.64 for CPT 80179 under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS)—a single national rate, the same in every locality, before the ~2% sequestration cut. On the Physician Fee Schedule CPT 80179 carries status X (statutory exclusion) because lab services are paid under the CLFS instead. Figure from the Q4 2026 CLFS file, effective January 1, 2026.

Amount evidence: Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule

Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (Q4 2026) · 26clabq4.zip (PUF_CLFS_CY2026_Q4V1.csv row 684)

Effective Jan 1, 2026 · Lab payment rules and source details

Inspect PFS status evidence
Code
80179
Release
Q4 2026, revision 2
Result
Priced under CLFS

Citations

  • Shows this code’s PFS status (X). Result: Priced under CLFS.

    Physician relative value file (PPRRVU)

    Q4 2026 · revision 2

    Latest revision of this release

    Release period: October 1 – December 31, 2026

    This PFS record alone does not establish a $0 allowance or a coverage determination. Any amount from another schedule needs its own evidence.

    Record details PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv in rvu26d-updated-08-26-2026.zip (row 9,620)
    hcpcs (col 1)
    80179
    modifier (col 2)
    blank
    status_code (col 4)
    X

    SHA-256: 4d0d3f19bd954ffc0f5b8439169d267da023d4f6911f4539bb6e98723cb1a626

    Original source file

Plain-text summary

Why is there no national PFS amount for 80179?

Its status indicator is X (statutory exclusion). The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item. The lab schedule supplies the pricing information shown above. See the CLFS evidence.

The Medicare lab fee for 80179 Copy link

Priced under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, not the Physician Fee Schedule

80179 carries status X on the Physician Fee Schedule because Medicare pays for clinical lab tests under a separate fee schedule, the CLFS. Since 2018 the CLFS rate is a single national amount—the same in every state and setting, with no locality adjustment.

Original Medicare generally pays 100% of the CLFS amount for covered clinical diagnostic lab tests—no Part B coinsurance or deductible, unlike most physician services.

National CLFS rate

$18.64

Q4 2026 CLFS file · effective Jan 1, 2026

Before the ~2% sequestration cut applied at claim payment. Lab tests billed by a hospital outpatient department may be packaged into the facility payment instead.

Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (Q4 2026) · 26clabq4.zip (PUF_CLFS_CY2026_Q4V1.csv row 684)

This record establishes the published lab amount and its effective date. It does not establish patient-specific coverage or whether a claim is packaged into another payment.

Source fields and checksum
Code
80179
Modifier
Blank
Pricing indicator
N
Allowed amount
$18.64
Effective date
2026-01-01
File SHA-256
fcfec34526c443902747deae74339aae6f8bc79f26b3239cc017c278bf730e0e

Payment considerations Copy link

Here are the inputs and payment rules that apply to this code. Each link takes you to the detail below.

NCCI same-day edits Applies MUE behavior Applies Other fee-schedule routing Applies
Other payment indicators (7)

Facility/non-facility: Not determined, Professional/technical component: Does not apply, Bilateral adjustment: Does not apply, Multiple-procedure reduction: Does not apply, Assistant/co-surgeon treatment: Does not apply, Global surgery: Does not apply, Contractor pricing: Does not apply.

Why would a Medicare claim for 80179 be denied or paid less?

These come from CMS indicators on this page, not general billing advice.

  • Its status indicator is X (statutory exclusion)—The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item. Medicare prices this code under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule instead; the CLFS rate is shown on this page. See CLFS rate
  • 1 code forms an NCCI pair with 80179 carrying modifier indicator 0—no NCCI-associated modifier bypasses the edit, so billed together on the same date of service, a line of the pair denies. See billing together
  • 7 codes pair with 80179 under modifier indicator 1—separately payable only when an NCCI-associated modifier (59, or a more specific XE, XS, XP, or XU) is clinically appropriate and the documentation supports a distinct service; without one, a line of the pair denies. See billing together
  • More than 2 units per patient per date of service exceeds 80179's Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE) limit. See billing together

Payer-specific coverage and documentation rules live outside these files, so a claim that clears every check here can still be denied on other grounds.

Which billing rules and modifiers apply? Copy link

Global period: what 80179's fee already covers Copy link

XXX Does not apply

The global surgery concept does not apply to this code.

Can you bill it with another code? Copy link

Check a pair of codes Copy link

Enter a second CPT or HCPCS code billed on the same date of service. We'll check the current NCCI procedure-to-procedure edit for the pair.

See every current NCCI pair for 80179 →

Billing together (NCCI edits) Copy link

NCCI Q4 2026

Based on CMS's National Correct Coding Initiative (NCCI). A few examples appear here; use the complete edit page to check a specific pair.

Not separately payable with 80179 on the same date of service—no modifier bypasses the edit (modifier indicator 0)

96523 96523 denies

Separately payable with 80179 only when an NCCI-associated modifier is appropriate and documented (modifier indicator 1)

80329 80179 denies
80330 80179 denies
80331 80179 denies

Showing 3 of 7.

Modifier 59 and the X modifiers are not a universal bypass—CMS expects the most specific applicable modifier, and which one that is depends on the pair and the documented circumstances.

Check a paired code or view all 8 NCCI pairs →

Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE) limit: 2 units per patient per date of service.

How has it changed? Copy link

Rate history by release Copy link

National Office (non-facility) amount for 80179 across quarterly releases.

Release Status Office Facility
Q4 2026 Oct 1, 2026 – present X — —
Q3 2026 Jul 1, 2026 – Sep 30, 2026 X — —
Q2 2026 Apr 1, 2026 – Jun 30, 2026 X — —
When does this rate change?

CMS publishes a fee schedule release every quarter (January, April, July, October), and each is versioned here. See what changed each release, or get an email when a new release moves rates.

Sources: CMS Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value Files.

Usage and related codes Copy link

How often 80179 is billed Copy link

Across Original Medicare in CY2024, 80179 ranked #5,351 of the 7,879 CPT codes billed to Medicare that year, by patients served or total allowed dollars.

Beneficiaries
373
Office + facility beneficiaries combined
Services
403
Times it was billed
Allowed
$7,363
Total Medicare allowed dollars
Compare: ↑ #5,349 more popular · 45389 ↓ #5,356 less popular · 92521

2024 Medicare fee-for-service national totals. They exclude Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial volume, so real-world use runs higher. This is a calendar-year snapshot from the CMS Physician & Other Practitioners dataset, on a different cycle from the Q4 2026 fee schedule above.

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Source & method

Show sources

The lab amount comes from the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule record shown above. Its release and effective date are independent of the PFS release used for status evidence. Past releases are never edited, so these sources stay valid after CMS publishes a newer one. Our methodology explains sourcing, parsing, versioning, and how we cross-check claims before we publish them.

Physician relative value file (Q4 2026) · rvu26d-updated-08-26-2026.zip (PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv row 9,620)

Use the (i) buttons next to each amount above for the exact row, columns, and math.

Cite this rate

The citation names the release, so anyone can check it even after CMS publishes a newer one.

CPT 80179: $18.64 (CLFS Q4 2026; effective 2026-01-01). PUF_CLFS_CY2026_Q4V1.csv, row 684. Localis. https://localishealth.com/sources/clinical-lab-fee-schedule/2026/D