CPT 87070 · Semen Culture, Physician Order Included
87070 is the culture itself. If bacteria grow, the lab adds 87077 to name them and 87186 to test which antibiotics work. Here's what each line means, when a semen culture is ordered, and how to get one at a lab that will actually accept the sample.
A semen culture looks for a bacterial infection in the reproductive tract, usually after a semen analysis shows white blood cells. It isn't part of the standard semen analysis, and most walk-in draw sites won't accept semen for culture. Order through Hera and we match you to an andrology or hospital lab that does. The physician order is included and the lab's cash price is confirmed before you go.
$60 physician order + the lab's cash price (roughly $50–$150), confirmed before your visit
CPT 87070 is a bacterial culture of a body fluid other than urine, blood or stool. For a semen culture the lab plates the sample on growth media, incubates it for two to three days and reports whether bacteria grew, which ones, and roughly how many. The order has to name semen as the specimen, because the same code is used for wound, throat and other cultures. This is the line a Hera semen culture order requests.
If nothing grows, 87070 is the only culture charge. If something does, two more lines usually appear on the bill: CPT 87077, the extra work of identifying exactly which organism it is, and CPT 87186, an antibiotic susceptibility panel that tells your doctor which antibiotics that organism responds to. You don't order those; the lab adds them by reflex, so a positive culture costs more than a negative one. Gonorrhea and chlamydia are not detected by this culture. They're tested with separate DNA (NAAT) codes, 87591 and 87491, normally on a urine sample.
1. Place your semen culture order with Hera. Tell us where you are and we match you to a lab that accepts semen for culture — an andrology lab, fertility-clinic lab or hospital microbiology lab, not a general patient service center. Hera's physician signs the order.
2. We text or email you the lab's location, cash price and collection instructions within one business day. The instructions matter for a culture: urinate first, wash your hands and penis, collect into the sterile container without touching the inside, and deliver it within the window the lab gives you.
3. Results take about two to five days, longer if something grows and the lab runs identification and susceptibility. Upload the report along with your semen analysis and Hera's AI reads them together against WHO 2021 limits, so you can see whether the white cells, count and motility fit an infection picture.
Quest and Labcorp draw sites generally won't accept semen for culture, which is why this test is hard to book on your own. Submit your order and we match you to a lab that does. Want to know what the test involves first? Read the full guide.
Order a semen culture — we'll match you to a lab What a semen culture involvesA semen culture is one CPT code when it's negative and three when it's positive, because the lab adds identification and susceptibility testing only when bacteria grow. If you're bringing your own order or reading an explanation of benefits, these are the codes to look for.
| Code | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 87070 (On a Hera order) | Aerobic bacterial culture of a specimen other than urine, blood or stool — the semen culture itself. The order must list the specimen source as semen. |
| 87077 | Definitive identification of a bacterial isolate — added by the lab only if something grows. |
| 87186 | Antibiotic susceptibility (MIC) — added by the lab only if something grows, so the report can name which antibiotics work. |
| Code | What it covers |
|---|---|
| R86.5 (On a Hera order) | Abnormal microbiological findings in a male genital specimen — the usual code after white blood cells or bacteria on a semen analysis. |
| N41.1 | Chronic prostatitis — when pelvic pain or recurrent prostate infection is the reason for the culture. |
| N46.9 | Male infertility, unspecified — when the culture is part of an infertility workup. |
| Z31.41 | Encounter for fertility testing. |
Coverage follows the diagnosis code. R86.5 or N41.1 documents a suspected infection and is usually treated as diagnostic, not fertility, testing, so it's covered more often than a semen analysis billed with Z31.41. Cash prices for the culture alone run roughly $50–$150; the reflex codes add to that only when the culture is positive. Hera confirms the lab's price before your visit.
CPT 87070, a bacterial culture of a specimen other than urine, blood or stool. The order must specify semen as the source. If bacteria grow, the lab adds CPT 87077 (identification of the organism) and CPT 87186 (antibiotic susceptibility), so a positive culture bills as three lines and a negative one as a single line.
They mean your culture grew something. 87077 is the extra work of pinning down which bacterium it is; 87186 is the susceptibility panel that lists which antibiotics that bacterium responds to and which it resists. Neither is ordered in advance; labs add them automatically when a culture is positive.
The AUA/ASRM male infertility guideline says that when a semen analysis shows more than 1 million round cells per mL, the lab or clinician should work out whether they're white blood cells or immature sperm cells, and that men with confirmed white blood cells in semen (pyospermia) should be evaluated for infection. A semen culture is the usual way to do that. It's also ordered for recurrent prostatitis and, at some clinics, before IUI or IVF.
No. A routine bacterial culture won't reliably grow either organism. They're detected with nucleic acid amplification tests, billed as CPT 87591 (gonorrhea) and 87491 (chlamydia), usually on a first-catch urine sample. If an STI is a concern, ask for those codes as well; they're a separate order.
Most patient service centers are set up for blood and urine, and a semen sample has to be plated within about an hour of collection, so they usually decline it even if the requisition is valid. The test runs at andrology labs, fertility-clinic labs and hospital microbiology labs. Hera matches you to one of those rather than sending you to a draw site that will turn you away.
R86.5, abnormal microbiological findings in a male genital specimen, when white blood cells or bacteria were seen on a semen analysis. N41.1, chronic prostatitis, when recurrent prostate infection or pelvic pain is the reason. N46.9 when the culture is part of an infertility workup, and Z31.41 when it's requested as part of fertility testing before treatment.
Cash prices for the culture itself run roughly $50 to $150 at US labs. If bacteria grow, the reflex identification and susceptibility codes (87077, 87186) add to the total. Hera charges a $60 physician-order fee and confirms the lab's price before your visit. Because the diagnosis is a suspected infection rather than fertility testing, insurance covers a semen culture more often than a semen analysis.