CPT 82681
Priced under the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS), not the RVU formula.
No national payment amount
Status X is not separately payable under the PFS.
Did Medicare pay separately for CPT 82681 in Q3 2024? Copy link
Not at a published national rate. CPT 82681 carries status X (statutory exclusion) in the Q3 2024 release. The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item. Treat the blank amount as unpriced, not as $0.
Source: Physician relative value file (Q3 2024) · effective July 2024 · materially updated Aug 4, 2026 · compact facts
Why isn't there a national PFS amount?
- Status X (Statutory exclusion): The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item.
- Status X is not separately payable under the PFS.
CMS evidence · 2 sources
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Common questions Copy link
Why is there no payment amount for 82681?
Its status indicator is X (statutory exclusion). The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item. The blank is deliberate: the amount is either unknown or paid under another provision, so reading it as $0 would be wrong.
Why would a Medicare claim for 82681 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. See status indicators
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.
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.
Applicable payment rules Copy link
Only the rules that can matter for 82681, each linking to its detail on this page.
Global period: what 82681's fee already covers Copy link
The global surgery concept does not apply to this code.
| Modifier | Reports |
|---|---|
| -25 | A significant, separately identifiable E/M on the same day as the procedure, beyond its usual pre- and post-operative care. |
A modifier reports what happened; it does not by itself make a service payable. Documentation has to support it.
Can you bill it with another code? 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 between it and 82681.
Rate history by release Copy link
National non-facility amount for 82681 across quarterly releases.
| Release | Status | Non-facility | Facility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 Jul 1, 2026 – present | X | — | — |
| Q2 2026 Apr 1, 2026 – Jun 30, 2026 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2026 Jan 1, 2026 – Mar 31, 2026 | X | — | — |
| Q4 2025 Oct 1, 2025 – Dec 31, 2025 | X | — | — |
| Q3 2025 Jul 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2025 | X | — | — |
| Q2 2025 Apr 1, 2025 – Jun 30, 2025 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2025 Jan 1, 2025 – Mar 31, 2025 | X | — | — |
| Q4 2024 Oct 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024 | X | — | — |
| Q3 2024 Jul 1, 2024 – Sep 30, 2024 | X | — | — |
| Q2 2024 Apr 1, 2024 – Jun 30, 2024 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2024 Jan 1, 2024 – Mar 31, 2024 | X | — | — |
| Q4 2023 Oct 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2023 | X | — | — |
| Q3 2023 Jul 1, 2023 – Sep 30, 2023 | X | — | — |
| Q2 2023 Apr 1, 2023 – Jun 30, 2023 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2023 Jan 1, 2023 – Mar 31, 2023 | X | — | — |
| Q4 2022 Oct 1, 2022 – Dec 31, 2022 | X | — | — |
| Q3 2022 Jul 1, 2022 – Sep 30, 2022 | X | — | — |
| Q2 2022 Apr 1, 2022 – Jun 30, 2022 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2022 Jan 1, 2022 – Mar 31, 2022 | X | — | — |
| Q4 2021 Oct 1, 2021 – Dec 31, 2021 | X | — | — |
| Q3 2021 Jul 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2021 | X | — | — |
| Q2 2021 Apr 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2021 | X | — | — |
| Q1 2021 Jan 1, 2021 – Mar 31, 2021 | X | — | — |
How often 82681 is billed Copy link
Across Original Medicare in CY2024, 82681 ranked #3,332 of the 7,879 CPT codes billed to Medicare that year, by patients served or total allowed dollars.
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 Q3 2024 fee schedule above.
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Source & method
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This is computed from CMS's Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Q3 2024 release (schedule pfs, effective July 2024). National amounts apply a GPCI of 1.000 and leave sequestration off. The status indicator decides payability, never the RVU values, so a blank RVU stays blank. Releases are immutable: a rate retrieved for a past quarter always reflects that release. Our methodology covers the depth: sourcing, parsing, versioning, and how we cross-check claims before they ship.
Use the (i) buttons next to each amount above for the exact row, columns, and math.
Cite this rate
This link keeps pointing at the Q3 2024 figures, even after a newer release lands.
CPT 82681 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rate (Q3 2024). Localis. https://localishealth.com/cpt/82681/2024/C