# CPT 87880

> Not at a published national rate. CPT 87880 carries status X (statutory exclusion) in the Q1 2020 release. The statutory definition of physician services does not include this item. Treat the blank amount as unpriced, not as $0.

## What it is

The classic in-office strep test: a throat swab is processed on a test device and read by eye within minutes for group A streptococcus antigen. A positive is dependable and treatment can begin straight away, while a negative is less certain and is often backed up with a throat culture or molecular test when strep is still suspected. It detects bacterial proteins, not the organism's DNA.

## Selected release

- Release: Q1 2020 (2020 A)
- Effective: January 1 – March 31, 2020
- Status indicator: X
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: not published
- Facility national allowed amount: not published
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: not published
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: not published
- Facility practice expense RVU: not published
- Malpractice RVU: not published
- Conversion factor: 36.0896
- Formula: `(work_rvu × work_gpci + pe_rvu × pe_gpci + mp_rvu × mp_gpci) × conversion_factor`

## Source and citation

- Source: Physician relative value file (Q1 2020)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu20a-updated-01312020.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU20_Jan.csv, row 15,232
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/87880/2014/B
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/87880/2020/A
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:09:22+00:00