A4253: Blood glucose test or reagent strips for home blood glucose monitor, per 50 strips
A4253 is a HCPCS Level II code for blood glucose test or reagent strips for home blood glucose monitor, per 50 strips. It belongs to the Transportation, Medical & Surgical Supplies, Administrative 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 2026Q4-Oct. This states Medicare’s position on the code, not on your particular claim.
Physician fee schedule statusP
Bundled or excluded. No RVUs and no payment: either bundled into another service or paid under a different provision of the Act.
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 A4253 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
- 0, never payable MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · CMS Policy
- outpatient
- 0, never payable MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · CMS Policy
- DME supplier
- 1 unit MAI 3: Date of Service Edit: Clinical · Nature of Equipment
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 2026Q4.
The CMS record for A4253
- Long descriptor
- Blood glucose test or reagent strips for home blood glucose monitor, per 50 strips
- Short descriptor
- Blood glucose/reagent strips
- Added
- January 1, 1986
- BETOS
- D1E
- Pricing indicator
- 32: DMEPOS
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.
Inexpensive and routinely purchased DME. Price subject to floors and ceilings.
Codes adjacent to A4253
HCPCS has no hierarchy: related items simply sit next to each other in the numbering. If A4253 is not quite right, the correct code is very often within a few positions of it.
- A4239Supply allowance for non-adjunctive, non-implanted continuous glucose monitor (cgm), includes all supplies and accessories, 1 month supply = 1 unit of service
- A4244Alcohol or peroxide, per pint
- A4245Alcohol wipes, per box
- A4246Betadine or phisohex solution, per pint
- A4247Betadine or iodine swabs/wipes, per box
- A4248Chlorhexidine containing antiseptic, 1 ml
- A4250Urine test or reagent strips or tablets (100 tablets or strips)
- A4252Blood ketone test or reagent strip, each
- A4255Platforms for home blood glucose monitor, 50 per box
- A4256Normal, low and high calibrator solution / chips
- A4257Replacement lens shield cartridge for use with laser skin piercing device, each
- A4258Spring-powered device for lancet, each
- A4259Lancets, per box of 100
- A4261Cervical cap for contraceptive use
- A4262Temporary, absorbable lacrimal duct implant, each
- A4263Permanent, long term, non-dissolvable lacrimal duct implant, each