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86152 Cell enumeration & id

What 86152 is

CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Cell enumeration & id.

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 86152 (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.

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Medically Unlikely Edit (MUE)

Medicare caps 86152 at 1 unit per date of service for practitioner claims (MAI 3 - date of service edit (clinical): units above the MUE may pay with documentation on appeal), rationale: Nature of Analyte. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.

Billed with 86152? These codes are bundled into it

86152 is a Column 1 code in 22 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 codeShort descriptionModifier indicator
86255Fluorescent antibody screen1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86256Fluorescent antibody titer1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86355B cells total count1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86356Mononuclear cell antigen1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86357Nk cells total count1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86359T cells total count1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86360T cell absolute count/ratio1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86361T cell absolute count1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
86367Stem cells total count1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88184Flowcytometry/ tc 1 marker1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88185Flowcytometry/tc add-on1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88187Flowcytometry/read 2-81 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88188Flowcytometry/read 9-151 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88189Flowcytometry/read 16 & >1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88313Special stains group 21 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88342Imhchem/imcytchm 1st antb1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88344Imhchem/imcytchm ea mlt antb1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88346Imfluor 1st 1antb stain px1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88358Analysis tumor1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88360Tumor immunohistochem/manual1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88361Tumor immunohistochem/comput1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
96523Irrig drug delivery device0 - no modifier bypassCheck 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.