# CPT 88112

> Medicare paid $68.57 for CPT 88112 in the office (non-facility) setting and $68.57 in a facility under the Q4 2020 Physician Fee Schedule, effective October 2020. These are the national allowed amounts before the ~2% sequestration cut and before locality (GPCI) adjustment. This price has been unchanged since Q1 2020, when it increased 0.1%.

## What it is

Microscopic examination of cells collected from somewhere other than the cervix or vagina - fluid drawn from around a lung or from the abdomen, urine, or a washing or brushing from an airway or duct. The specimen goes through a concentrating preparation that strips away blood and debris and lays the cells down in a thin, even layer, which makes abnormal cells far easier to pick out than on a simple smeared slide. The pathologist's examination and written interpretation are part of the service.

## Selected release

- Release: Q4 2020 (2020 D)
- Effective: October 1 – December 31, 2020
- Status indicator: A
- Office (non-facility) national allowed amount: $68.57
- Facility national allowed amount: $68.57
- Sequestration: not applied

## RVUs and formula

- Work RVU: 0.56
- Office (non-facility) practice expense RVU: 1.32
- Facility practice expense RVU: 1.32
- Malpractice RVU: 0.02
- 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 (Q4 2020)
- CMS file: https://www.cms.gov/files/zip/rvu20d-updated-11232020.zip
- Parsed file: PPRRVU20_OCT.csv, row 15,378
- Canonical page: https://localishealth.com/cpt/88112/2020/A
- Release-specific citation URL: https://localishealth.com/cpt/88112/2020/D
- Last significant update: 2026-08-04T03:10:00+00:00