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CPT 83700 Medicare lab fee

Priced under CLFS

83700 · CLFS Q4 2026

National CLFS allowed amount · Q4 2026

$11.26

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

Amount evidence: Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule

Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (Q4 2026) · 26clabq4.zip (PUF_CLFS_CY2026_Q4V1.csv row 1,340)

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

Inspect PFS status evidence
Code
83700
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)CMS RVU26DOctober 1 – December 31, 2026revision 2

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

    PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv row 10,302 in rvu26d-updated-08-26-2026.zip

    In the CMS file

    Loading rows 10,300–10,304 of PPRRVU2026_Oct_nonQPP.csv…

    Download rvu26d-updated-08-26-2026.zip from CMS File fingerprint 4d0d3f19bd954ffc0f5b8439169d267da023d4f6911f4539bb6e98723cb1a626

Plain-text summaryReport a problem

The national CLFS allowed amount is $11.26 for CPT 83700 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 83700 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.

Why is there no national PFS amount for 83700?

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 83700 Copy link

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

83700 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

$11.26

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 1,340)

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
83700
Modifier
Blank
Pricing indicator
N
Allowed amount
$11.26
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 83700 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
  • 7 codes form NCCI pairs with 83700 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
  • 5 codes pair with 83700 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 1 unit per patient per date of service exceeds 83700'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 83700'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 83700 →

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 83700 on the same date of service—no modifier bypasses the edit (modifier indicator 0)

0052U 83700 denies
83701 83700 denies
83718 83718 denies

Showing 3 of 7.

Separately payable with 83700 only when an NCCI-associated modifier is appropriate and documented (modifier indicator 1)

80503 80503 denies
80504 80504 denies
80505 80505 denies

Showing 3 of 5.

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 12 NCCI pairs →

Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE) limit: 1 unit per patient per date of service.

How has it changed? Copy link

Rate history by release Copy link

National Office (non-facility) amount for 83700 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 83700 is billed Copy link

Across Original Medicare in CY2024, 83700 ranked #3,922 of the 7,879 CPT codes billed to Medicare that year, by patients served or total allowed dollars.

Beneficiaries
1,614
Office + facility beneficiaries combined
Services
1,942
Times it was billed
Allowed
$21,392
Total Medicare allowed dollars
Compare: ↑ #3,920 more popular · 63087 ↓ #3,924 less popular · 43253

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 10,302)

Cite this rate

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

CPT 83700: $11.26 (CLFS Q4 2026; effective 2026-01-01). PUF_CLFS_CY2026_Q4V1.csv, row 1340. Localis. https://localishealth.com/sources/clinical-lab-fee-schedule/2026/D