P3001 — Screening papanicolaou smear, cervical or vaginal, up to three smears, requiring interpretation by physician
P3001 is a HCPCS Level II code for screening papanicolaou smear, cervical or vaginal, up to three smears, requiring interpretation by physician. It belongs to the Pathology and Laboratory Services section. Whether Medicare pays it depends on the coverage rule below.
Medicare coverage: Special coverage instructions apply
There are published conditions attached to this code. Check the applicable coverage policy before billing it: the code being valid is not the same as the service being covered.
From the coverage field of the CMS Alpha-Numeric HCPCS File, release 2026Q3-Jul. This states Medicare’s position on the code, not on your particular claim.
Physician fee schedule statusA
Active code. Paid separately under the physician fee schedule.
- Work RVU
- 0.25
- PE (non-facility)
- 0.46
- PE (facility)
- 0.46
- Malpractice RVU
- 0.01
Global period: XXX
Want the dollar amount for your locality? The fee calculator applies your GPCI and the current conversion factor.
Medically Unlikely Edits — units per day
The most units of P3001 Medicare will pay on one date of service. Bill more on a single line and it is denied. The limit is not the same in every setting, so the row that matters is the one matching the claim you are building.
- practitioner
- 1 unit MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction
- outpatient
- 1 unit MAI 3 — Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Code Descriptor / CPT Instruction
The adjudication indicator decides whether exceeding the limit is worth appealing at all: MAI 1 is a line edit you can support with documentation, MAI 3 is a date-of-service edit that is also appealable, and MAI 2 is absolute — no documentation overrides it. CMS MUE 2026Q3.
The CMS record for P3001
- Long descriptor
- Screening papanicolaou smear, cervical or vaginal, up to three smears, requiring interpretation by physician
- Short descriptor
- Screening pap smear by phys
- Added
- January 1, 1992
- BETOS
- T1G
- Pricing indicator
- 11 — Physician fee schedule
The official wording. This is what the code means.
CMS's 28-character form, which is what shows up on a remittance advice.
When CMS introduced the code.
Berenson-Eggers Type of Service — CMS's own analytic grouping.
Price established using national RVUs.
Codes adjacent to P3001
HCPCS has no hierarchy — related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If P3001 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- M1502Podiatry mips value pathway
- M1503Vascular surgery mips value pathway
- P2028Cephalin floculation, blood
- P2029Congo red, blood
- P2031Hair analysis (excluding arsenic)
- P2033Thymol turbidity, blood
- P2038Mucoprotein, blood (seromucoid) (medical necessity procedure)
- P3000Screening papanicolaou smear, cervical or vaginal, up to three smears, by technician under physician supervision
- P7001Culture, bacterial, urine; quantitative, sensitivity study
- P9010Blood (whole), for transfusion, per unit
- P9011Blood, split unit
- P9012Cryoprecipitate, each unit
- P9016Red blood cells, leukocytes reduced, each unit
- P9017Fresh frozen plasma (single donor), frozen within 8 hours of collection, each unit
- P9019Platelets, each unit
- P9020Platelet rich plasma, each unit
Questions about P3001
What is HCPCS code P3001?
P3001 is a HCPCS Level II code for screening papanicolaou smear, cervical or vaginal, up to three smears, requiring interpretation by physician. It sits in the Pathology and Laboratory Services section.
Does Medicare cover P3001?
The CMS HCPCS file marks P3001 as "Special coverage instructions apply". There are published conditions attached to this code. Check the applicable coverage policy before billing it: the code being valid is not the same as the service being covered.
How is P3001 paid under the physician fee schedule?
P3001 carries PFS status code A. Active code. Paid separately under the physician fee schedule.