87290 Varicella zoster ag if
What 87290 is
CMS fee schedule short descriptor: Varicella zoster ag if.
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 87290 (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 87290 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: Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction. Units above the cap are denied unless the edit's adjudication rules allow an appeal with documentation.
Billed with 87290? These codes are bundled into it
87290 is a Column 1 code in 8 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
87206 | Smear fluorescent/acid stai | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88346 | Imfluor 1st 1antb stain px | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
88350 | Imfluor ea addl 1antb stn px | 1 - modifier may bypass | Check pair |
96523 | Irrig drug delivery device | 0 - no modifier bypass | Check pair |
87290 is bundled into these codes
87290 appears as a Column 2 code in 5 active edits. Reported with one of these Column 1 codes on the same date of service, 87290 is the code that denies.
| Column 1 code | Short description | Modifier indicator | |
|---|---|---|---|
0527U | 1 | Check pair | |
87140 | Culture type immunofluoresc | 1 | Check pair |
87253 | Virus inoculate tissue addl | 1 | Check pair |
87254 | Virus inoculation shell via | 1 | Check pair |
87483 | Cns dna amp probe type 12-25 | 0 | 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.