81535 Oncology gynecologic
What 81535 is
CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Oncology gynecologic.
Full CPT long descriptions are licensed by the American Medical Association and are not published on this site; the short descriptor above is the one CMS prints in its own fee schedule file. See About CPT.
Medicare payment for 81535 (CY2026)
This code has no Physician Fee Schedule rate: Statutory exclusion - not payable under the Physician Fee Schedule. It may be paid under a different fee schedule (clinical laboratory, DMEPOS, anesthesia) or not paid at all - check the relevant CMS schedule.
Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE)
Medicare caps 81535 at 1 unit per date of service for practitioner claims (MAI 2 - date of service edit (absolute): units above the MUE never pay), rationale: Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.
Billed with 81535? These codes are bundled into it
81535 is a Column 1 code in 21 active NCCI PTP edits. When one of these Column 2 codes is reported on the same date of service, it is denied as bundled - unless the edit's modifier indicator is 1 and documentation supports a distinct service with an NCCI-associated modifier.
| Column 2 code | Short description | Modifier indicator | |
|---|---|---|---|
0156U | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair | |
0212U | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair | |
0213U | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair | |
0318U | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair | |
0336U | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair | |
80503 | Path clin consltj sf 5-20 | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
80504 | Path clin consltj mod 21-40 | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
80505 | Path clin consltj high 41-60 | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
80506 | Path clin consltj prolng svc | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
81228 | Cytog alys chrml abnr cgh | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
81229 | Cytog alys chrml abnr snpcgh | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88230 | Tissue culture lymphocyte | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88233 | Tissue culture skin/biopsy | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88235 | Tissue culture placenta | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88237 | Tissue culture bone marrow | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88239 | Tissue culture tumor | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88271 | Cytogenetics dna probe | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88291 | Cyto/molecular report | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88313 | Special stains group 2 | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
96523 | Irrig drug delivery device | 0 - no modifier bypass | Check pair |
G0452 | Molecular pathology interpr | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
81535 is bundled into these codes
81535 appears as a Column 2 code in 3 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 81535 is the code that denies.
| Column 1 code | Short description | Modifier indicator | |
|---|---|---|---|
0425U | 1 | Check pair | |
0435U | 1 | Check pair | |
81195 | Cytog genom-wid alys hem mal | 1 | Check pair |
Data: CMS CY2026 Physician Fee Schedule RVU file (October release, RVU26D) and Medicare NCCI PTP practitioner edits v32.3 (2026 Q4). Verify against the official files before billing or contracting decisions.