CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Commercial payers pay $29 on average nationally for this procedure.

CPT code 87070 describes a laboratory aerobic culture service where a lab analyst cultures a specimen from any source except urine, blood, or stool, isolates the organism, and performs analysis of the isolate for a presumptive identification; this is a microbiology diagnostic service typically performed in a clinical laboratory or hospital lab (technical component) and is used when an aerobic organism is suspected from non-urine, non-blood, non-stool specimens.

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National Reimbursement Benchmarks

National commercial reimbursement for CPT 87070 centers near BUCA’s average commercial rate of $29.00, with notable variation across major carriers. Blue Cross Blue Shield posts a high mean and wide spread, while Aetna and Cigna cluster lower around their medians; UnitedHealth Group sits modestly between those groups. BUCA’s mean of $29.00 serves as an average-commercial benchmark without min/max values.

Examining dispersion (P75 minus P25) reveals Blue Cross Blue Shield as the widest with a range of $22.80 ($53.60 minus $32.80), indicating substantial variability in contract levels. UnitedHealth Group’s spread is narrower at $4.70 ($8.60 minus $3.90), and Aetna and Cigna show intermediate dispersion of $5.90 ($11.90 minus $6.00) and $7.40 ($12.40 minus $5.00), respectively, signaling tighter clustering for UnitedHealth Group and greater volatility for Blue Cross Blue Shield.

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CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Commercial payers pay $29 on average nationally for this procedure.

Customize your policy alerts

Sign up for cpt 87070 policy alerts

Get alerted when payer policies referencing 87070 are released or updated.

Monitor payer policy activity

Receive email alerts as soon as relevant payer policies are published or updated.

National Reimbursement Benchmarks

National Payer Mean Reimbursement Rates

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

A 28-year-old patient presents to a family medicine clinic with a painful, fluctuant skin lesion on the forearm and low-grade fever. The clinician performs a point-of-care evaluation, incises and drains the abscess, and submits a wound swab or tissue specimen to the clinical laboratory for culture. The laboratory performs aerobic culture of the specimen (excluding urine, blood, or stool), isolates any bacterial growth, and carries out presumptive identification of the isolate to guide initial antibiotic selection. Typical workflow: specimen collection in clinic, transport to a Clinical Medical Laboratory or hospital microbiology lab, plating on appropriate aerobic media, incubation, isolation of colonies, and preliminary identification (e.g., colony morphology, basic biochemical tests or automated system presumptive ID). Results are reported back to the ordering provider (e.g., Family Medicine Physician) to inform therapy; further testing (e.g., susceptibility testing) may be performed separately if requested.

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`87086`	Culture, bacterial; quantitative, urine	Alternative culture code specific to urine specimens; not used for non-urine sources
`87088`	Culture, bacterial; with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates, urine	Urine-specific counterpart for isolation/presumptive ID services
`87186`	Susceptibility studies, antimicrobial agent; microdilution or agar dilution	May be ordered after presumptive identification to determine antibiotic susceptibility
`87205`	Smear, primary source with interpretation; Gram or Giemsa stain for bacteria, fungi, or cell types	Often performed on the primary specimen or direct smear to provide rapid, preliminary information before culture results

Related Modifiers

7 rows

Modifier	Description	When to Use
26	Modifier 26 (Professional Component) identifies and bills only the professional portion of a split service — the physician’s interpretation, report, and medical judgment — when the technical…	- Use CPT Modifier -26 when you are billing only the professional component (PC) of a split‑bill eligible service—i.e., you performed the physician interpretation, medical judgment and prepared a…
59	Modifier 59 indicates a distinct procedural service when two procedures that are not normally billed together are clinically and procedurally separate. The CPT definition (as reiterated by CMS)…	- Use modifier -59 to report a distinct procedural service when documentation supports that the procedure reported is not normally billed together with another service on the same day because of a…
76	Modifier -76, Repeat Procedure or Service by Same Physician or Other Qualified Health Care Professional, is appended when the same provider performs an identical, medically necessary procedure or…	- Use modifier -76 when the same physician or other qualified health care professional performs an identical procedure or service a second (or subsequent) time on the same date of service and the…
91	Modifier 91 — “Repeat Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Test” — is appended when the exact same CPT laboratory test is performed more than once for the same patient on the same day because serial,…	- Use modifier 91 when the exact same CPT laboratory test is performed more than once on the same patient on the same date because serial or repeated testing is medically necessary to monitor…
90	Modifier ‑90 (Reference/Outside Laboratory) indicates that a laboratory test was performed by an entity other than the treating or reporting provider. The American Medical Association defines…	- Use CPT modifier -90 when a laboratory test is performed by an outside/reference laboratory (an entity other than the treating or reporting physician or qualified professional) and the claim needs…
95	Modifier 95 indicates that a service was provided via synchronous, real‑time audio‑video telehealth rather than in‑person. Per CMS, AAPC and professional associations, append modifier 95 to claim…	- Use modifier 95 to indicate a service was furnished via synchronous, real‑time audiovisual telehealth (a live audio‑video conference between patient and provider) rather than in‑person. - Pair…
52	Modifier ‑52 (Reduced Services) indicates that a service or procedure was partially reduced or omitted at the provider’s discretion, allowing reporting of the basic procedure number with a qualifier…	- Use modifier -52 when a physician or qualified health professional electively reduces or omits part of a procedure or service (for example, performing fewer required views or omitting a portion of…

Related Provider Taxonomies

8 rows

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
291U00000X	Clinical Medical Laboratory	(1) A clinical laboratory is a facility for the biological, microbiological, serological, chemical, immunohematological, hematological, biophysical, c…
207ZP0102X	Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology Physician	A pathologist deals with the causes and nature of disease and contributes to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment through knowledge gained by the labora…
207Q00000X	Family Medicine Physician	Family Medicine is the medical specialty which is concerned with the total health care of the individual and the family. It is the specialty in breadt…
332U00000X	Home Delivered Meals	Home-delivered meals are those services or activities designed to prepare and deliver one or more meals a day to an individual's residence in order to…
261Q00000X	Clinic/Center	A facility or distinct part of one used for the diagnosis and treatment of outpatients. "Clinic/Center" is irregularly defined, sometimes being limite…
261QR1300X	Rural Health Clinic/Center	Ambulatory Health Care Facilities · Clinic/Center
225600000X	Dance Therapist	The dance therapist, sometimes called a movement therapist, focuses on rhythmic body movements as a medium of physical and psychological change. Dance…
2472B0301X	Biomedical Engineering Technician	None

CPT 87086: Urine Culture with Quantitative Colony Count

CPT-87040-BLOOD-CULTURE-ISOLATION-PRESUMPTIVE-IDENTIFICATION

CPT 87040: Blood Bacterial Culture with Isolation and Presumptive ID

CPT-87045-AEROBIC-BACTERIAL-STOOL-CULTURE-SALMONELLA-SHIGELLA

CPT 87045: Aerobic Bacterial Stool Culture for Salmonella/Shigella

CPT-87046-AEROBIC-BACTERIAL-STOOL-CULTURE-PRESUMPTIVE-ID-NON-SALMONELLA-SHIGELLA

CPT 87046: Aerobic Bacterial Stool Culture, Presumptive ID (non-Salmonella/Shigella)

CPT-87071-AEROBIC-QUANTITATIVE-BACTERIAL-CULTURE-NON-URINE-BLOOD-STOOL

CPT 87071: Quantitative Aerobic Bacterial Culture, Non-urine/blood/stool

CPT-87073-ANAEROBIC-CULTURE-NONBLOOD-NONURINE-NONSTOOL

CPT 87073: Anaerobic Culture, Non-Urine/Blood/Stool

CPT-87075-ANAEROBIC-CULTURE-IDENTIFICATION-NON-BLOOD-SPECIMEN

CPT 87075: Anaerobic Culture and Bacterial Identification (Nonblood)

CPT-87076-ANAEROBIC-ISOLATE-DEFINITIVE-IDENTIFICATION

CPT 87076: Anaerobic Isolate Identification to Species Level

CPT-87077-DEFINITIVE-IDENTIFICATION-AEROBIC-ISOLATE

CPT 87077: Definitive Identification of Aerobic Isolate

CPT-87081-TARGETED-SINGLE-ORGANISM-CULTURE

CPT 87081: Selective Culture for Specific Pathogen

Showing 1–10 of 30

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1.CPT® Codes and Descriptions. AAPC. Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.Maintains the CPT code set's official descriptions and guidelines, licensed from the American Medical Association, used as the definitional source for CPT codes on this page.
2.HCPCS Quarterly Update. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's quarterly release of HCPCS Level II codes and short/long descriptors, the source for HCPCS code definitions and update history.
3.ICD-10-CM Full Code List. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's complete ICD-10-CM diagnosis code list, used to cross-reference diagnosis codes associated with this procedure or service.

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Trek Health ingests and normalizes Transparency in Coverage data and payer policy updates to give provider organizations a clear view of how commercial reimbursement behaves across markets, payers, and services. Our platform transforms raw payer disclosures into structured intelligence that supports contract evaluation, payer negotiations, and service line strategy. By combining market benchmarks with ongoing policy visibility, Trek helps teams identify variability, risk, and opportunity in commercial reimbursement. The result is faster insight, stronger negotiating positions, and more informed financial decisions.

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Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

Related CPT Codes

CPT Code	Description	Relationship to This Procedure
`87086`	Culture, bacterial; quantitative, urine	Alternative culture code specific to urine specimens; not used for non-urine sources
`87088`	Culture, bacterial; with isolation and presumptive identification of isolates, urine	Urine-specific counterpart for isolation/presumptive ID services
`87186`	Susceptibility studies, antimicrobial agent; microdilution or agar dilution	May be ordered after presumptive identification to determine antibiotic susceptibility
`87205`	Smear, primary source with interpretation; Gram or Giemsa stain for bacteria, fungi, or cell types	Often performed on the primary specimen or direct smear to provide rapid, preliminary information before culture results

Related Modifiers

7 rows

Modifier	Description	When to Use
26	Modifier 26 (Professional Component) identifies and bills only the professional portion of a split service — the physician’s interpretation, report, and medical judgment — when the technical…	- Use CPT Modifier -26 when you are billing only the professional component (PC) of a split‑bill eligible service—i.e., you performed the physician interpretation, medical judgment and prepared a…
59	Modifier 59 indicates a distinct procedural service when two procedures that are not normally billed together are clinically and procedurally separate. The CPT definition (as reiterated by CMS)…	- Use modifier -59 to report a distinct procedural service when documentation supports that the procedure reported is not normally billed together with another service on the same day because of a…
76	Modifier -76, Repeat Procedure or Service by Same Physician or Other Qualified Health Care Professional, is appended when the same provider performs an identical, medically necessary procedure or…	- Use modifier -76 when the same physician or other qualified health care professional performs an identical procedure or service a second (or subsequent) time on the same date of service and the…
91	Modifier 91 — “Repeat Clinical Diagnostic Laboratory Test” — is appended when the exact same CPT laboratory test is performed more than once for the same patient on the same day because serial,…	- Use modifier 91 when the exact same CPT laboratory test is performed more than once on the same patient on the same date because serial or repeated testing is medically necessary to monitor…
90	Modifier ‑90 (Reference/Outside Laboratory) indicates that a laboratory test was performed by an entity other than the treating or reporting provider. The American Medical Association defines…	- Use CPT modifier -90 when a laboratory test is performed by an outside/reference laboratory (an entity other than the treating or reporting physician or qualified professional) and the claim needs…
95	Modifier 95 indicates that a service was provided via synchronous, real‑time audio‑video telehealth rather than in‑person. Per CMS, AAPC and professional associations, append modifier 95 to claim…	- Use modifier 95 to indicate a service was furnished via synchronous, real‑time audiovisual telehealth (a live audio‑video conference between patient and provider) rather than in‑person. - Pair…
52	Modifier ‑52 (Reduced Services) indicates that a service or procedure was partially reduced or omitted at the provider’s discretion, allowing reporting of the basic procedure number with a qualifier…	- Use modifier -52 when a physician or qualified health professional electively reduces or omits part of a procedure or service (for example, performing fewer required views or omitting a portion of…

Related Provider Taxonomies

8 rows

Taxonomy Code	Specialty	Notes
291U00000X	Clinical Medical Laboratory	(1) A clinical laboratory is a facility for the biological, microbiological, serological, chemical, immunohematological, hematological, biophysical, c…
207ZP0102X	Anatomic Pathology & Clinical Pathology Physician	A pathologist deals with the causes and nature of disease and contributes to diagnosis, prognosis and treatment through knowledge gained by the labora…
207Q00000X	Family Medicine Physician	Family Medicine is the medical specialty which is concerned with the total health care of the individual and the family. It is the specialty in breadt…
332U00000X	Home Delivered Meals	Home-delivered meals are those services or activities designed to prepare and deliver one or more meals a day to an individual's residence in order to…
261Q00000X	Clinic/Center	A facility or distinct part of one used for the diagnosis and treatment of outpatients. "Clinic/Center" is irregularly defined, sometimes being limite…
261QR1300X	Rural Health Clinic/Center	Ambulatory Health Care Facilities · Clinic/Center
225600000X	Dance Therapist	The dance therapist, sometimes called a movement therapist, focuses on rhythmic body movements as a medium of physical and psychological change. Dance…
2472B0301X	Biomedical Engineering Technician	None

CPT 87086: Urine Culture with Quantitative Colony Count

CPT-87040-BLOOD-CULTURE-ISOLATION-PRESUMPTIVE-IDENTIFICATION

CPT 87040: Blood Bacterial Culture with Isolation and Presumptive ID

CPT-87045-AEROBIC-BACTERIAL-STOOL-CULTURE-SALMONELLA-SHIGELLA

CPT 87045: Aerobic Bacterial Stool Culture for Salmonella/Shigella

CPT-87046-AEROBIC-BACTERIAL-STOOL-CULTURE-PRESUMPTIVE-ID-NON-SALMONELLA-SHIGELLA

CPT 87046: Aerobic Bacterial Stool Culture, Presumptive ID (non-Salmonella/Shigella)

CPT-87071-AEROBIC-QUANTITATIVE-BACTERIAL-CULTURE-NON-URINE-BLOOD-STOOL

CPT 87071: Quantitative Aerobic Bacterial Culture, Non-urine/blood/stool

CPT-87073-ANAEROBIC-CULTURE-NONBLOOD-NONURINE-NONSTOOL

CPT 87073: Anaerobic Culture, Non-Urine/Blood/Stool

CPT-87075-ANAEROBIC-CULTURE-IDENTIFICATION-NON-BLOOD-SPECIMEN

CPT 87075: Anaerobic Culture and Bacterial Identification (Nonblood)

CPT-87076-ANAEROBIC-ISOLATE-DEFINITIVE-IDENTIFICATION

CPT 87076: Anaerobic Isolate Identification to Species Level

CPT-87077-DEFINITIVE-IDENTIFICATION-AEROBIC-ISOLATE

CPT 87077: Definitive Identification of Aerobic Isolate

CPT-87081-TARGETED-SINGLE-ORGANISM-CULTURE

CPT 87081: Selective Culture for Specific Pathogen

Showing 1–10 of 30

Frequently Asked Questions

References

1.CPT® Codes and Descriptions. AAPC. Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.Maintains the CPT code set's official descriptions and guidelines, licensed from the American Medical Association, used as the definitional source for CPT codes on this page.
2.HCPCS Quarterly Update. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's quarterly release of HCPCS Level II codes and short/long descriptors, the source for HCPCS code definitions and update history.
3.ICD-10-CM Full Code List. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Retrieved Aug 11, 2026.CMS's complete ICD-10-CM diagnosis code list, used to cross-reference diagnosis codes associated with this procedure or service.

Published by

Trek Health powers OpenPayer with a leading commercial payer intelligence platform, seamlessly converting fragmented payer data into actionable insights for provider organizations.

OpenPayer

CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Sign up for cpt 87070 policy alerts

National Reimbursement Benchmarks

OpenPayer

CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Sign up for cpt 87070 policy alerts

National Reimbursement Benchmarks

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

Related CPT Codes

Related Modifiers

Related Provider Taxonomies

Related Codes

References

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

Related CPT Codes

Related Modifiers

Related Provider Taxonomies

Related Codes

References

CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Sign up for cpt 87070 policy alerts

National Reimbursement Benchmarks

CPT 87070: Aerobic Culture with Isolation and Presumptive Identification

Sign up for cpt 87070 policy alerts

National Reimbursement Benchmarks

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

Related CPT Codes

Related Modifiers

Related Provider Taxonomies

Related Codes

What clinical service does CPT 87070 represent and where is it usually performed?

For which types of specimens or clinical situations is 87070 typically used?

Which CPT modifiers are commonly applicable to 87070 and when should they be used?

What does the reimbursement benchmark data indicate about payer variation for 87070?

Which related CPT codes should be considered alongside 87070 in a microbiology workflow?

References

Clinical & Coding Specifications

Clinical Context

Related CPT Codes

Related Modifiers

Related Provider Taxonomies

Related Codes

What clinical service does CPT 87070 represent and where is it usually performed?

For which types of specimens or clinical situations is 87070 typically used?

Which CPT modifiers are commonly applicable to 87070 and when should they be used?

What does the reimbursement benchmark data indicate about payer variation for 87070?

Which related CPT codes should be considered alongside 87070 in a microbiology workflow?

References