CPT 81001
Urinalysis, automated with microscopy
A urine test with an automated dipstick reading and a microscopic examination. Ordered for suspected urinary infection, kidney problems, and abdominal pain. The dipstick-only versions are 81002 and 81003.
Billed to Medicare
$17
What providers submitted, on average, for this code in a hospital setting.
Medicare accepted
$3
What Medicare treated as payable. Not a commercial rate or a cash price.
The gap
5.5x
How many times the accepted amount the billed figure was.
National averages from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2024 data, retrieved 2026-09-14. Medicare fee-for-service, physician and practitioner claims only. The hospital's own charge for the same code is separate and is usually higher. Based on 2,775 services.
Of the 10 lab tests codes on this site with CMS figures, this one has the widest gap between what is billed and what Medicare accepts. The narrowest is Blood draw (venipuncture) at 2.5x.
Where this line goes wrong
Dipstick plus microscopy is one code
81003 (automated dipstick) billed alongside 81001 from the same sample is a duplicate; 81001 includes the dipstick.
Urine culture is separate and often unnecessary
A culture (87086) is a separate, more expensive test. It is often ordered reflexively. If the urinalysis was normal and a culture was still billed, ask whether it was resulted.
Check it, then ask
- 1
Ask for the itemized bill and the lab results and match every billed test to a result.
- 2
Check for a panel billed alongside one of its own components, or two overlapping panels on the same draw.
- 3
Count the blood draw (36415) lines; one per visit is the norm.
- 4
If self-pay, ask for the hospital's cash price for each test, or compare with an independent lab's published price.
The full walkthrough for this kind of bill: You got an ER bill.
For $49, a mediloop specialist reads your itemized bill and EOB, if available, checks every code against the record and available pricing, flags the lines to dispute, and prepares a step-by-step plan with the exact wording to send. It appears in your account within 24 hours after all required documents arrive.
Get the plan for your billNot sure the bill is worth fighting? Run the free savings calculator first
Codes that travel with this one
People also ask
What is the difference between 81001 and 81003?
81001 includes a microscopic examination of the urine; 81003 is the automated dipstick only. They should not both appear for one sample.
Sources
This page explains a billing code in general terms. It is not a coding, legal or medical opinion about your bill, and the code descriptions are mediloop's own plain-English summaries, not the official CPT descriptors, which are owned by the American Medical Association. Whether a charge was correct depends on the record of your visit and your payer's rules.