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87206 Smear fluorescent/acid stai

What 87206 is

CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Smear fluorescent/acid stai.

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 87206 (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 87206 at 6 units 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: Clinical: Data. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.

Billed with 87206? These codes are bundled into it

87206 is a Column 1 code in 7 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
80503Path clin consltj sf 5-201 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
80504Path clin consltj mod 21-401 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
80505Path clin consltj high 41-601 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
80506Path clin consltj prolng svc1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
87177Ova and parasites smears1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
88387Macroscopic xm dsj&prep tiss1 - modifier may bypassCheck pair
96523Irrig drug delivery device0 - no modifier bypassCheck pair

87206 is bundled into these codes

87206 appears as a Column 2 code in 60 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 87206 is the code that denies.

Column 1 codeShort descriptionModifier indicator
0107U1Check pair
0402U1Check pair
0527U1Check pair
87260Adenovirus ag if1Check pair
87267Enterovirus antibody dfa1Check pair
87269Giardia ag if1Check pair
87272Cryptosporidium ag if1Check pair
87273Herpes simplex 2 ag if1Check pair
87274Herpes simplex 1 ag if1Check pair
87275Influenza b ag if1Check pair
87276Influenza a ag if1Check pair
87278Legion pneumophilia ag if1Check pair
87279Parainfluenza ag if1Check pair
87280Respiratory syncytial ag if1Check pair
87281Pneumocystis carinii ag if1Check 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.