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Procedure price report

Swab test for COVID-19, flu A and B, and RSV

CPT 0241Uthe billing code this page is about

Laboratory test on an upper respiratory specimen that looks for the genetic material of four viruses, with each virus reported as detected or not detected.

Hospitals typically charge $212 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 532 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $210. Most fall between $122 and $298 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
532
States
49
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 25, 2026

Median: half of hospitals filed less, half more — and it is a price some hospital actually filed. Average of the middle 60%: the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain average, the lowest or the highest price: the extremes in hospital price files are chargemaster artefacts, not prices anyone pays.

What hospitals charge, from cheapest to most expensive

Cash price percentiles, outpatient, across 532 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$105$148$212$283$376

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 3.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($105 vs $376).

How the prices are spread

$71 – $86: 9 hospitals$71$86 – $105: 19 hospitals$105 – $128: 60 hospitals$105$128 – $155: 37 hospitals$155 – $189: 73 hospitals$155$189 – $230: 91 hospitals$230 – $280: 80 hospitals$230$280 – $341: 59 hospitals$341 – $415: 36 hospitals$341$415 – $505: 17 hospitals$415median $212price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (481 of 532 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$71$869
$86$10519
$105$12860
$128$15537
$155$18973
$189$23091
$230$28080
$280$34159
$341$41536
$415$50517

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $212.

Alaska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $195 across 24 hospitalsWA$195Idaho: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: median $208 across 28 hospitalsMN$208Illinois: median $269 across 23 hospitalsIL$269Wisconsin: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $310 across 18 hospitalsMI$310New York: median $188 across 26 hospitalsNY$188Massachusetts: median $359 across 20 hospitalsMA$359Oregon: median $224 across 10 hospitalsOR$224Nevada: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $298 across 16 hospitalsIA$298Indiana: median $158 across 13 hospitalsIN$158Ohio: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOHPennsylvania: median $210 across 30 hospitalsPA$210New Jersey: median $157 across 14 hospitalsNJ$157Connecticut: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $276 across 21 hospitalsCA$276Utah: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureUTColorado: median $245 across 16 hospitalsCO$245Nebraska: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: median $180 across 12 hospitalsMO$180Kentucky: median $54 across 11 hospitalsKY$54West Virginia: median $259 across 17 hospitalsWV$259Virginia: median $135 across 10 hospitalsVA$135Maryland: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $194 across 42 hospitalsNC$194South Carolina: median $226 across 15 hospitalsSC$226Oklahoma: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureGAHawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $105 across 52 hospitalsTX$105Florida: median $307 across 10 hospitalsFL$307
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $212. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Massachusetts MA20$359+70%$186 – $359
Michigan MI18$310+47%$208 – $378
Florida FL10$307+45%$71 – $466
Iowa IA16$298+41%$287 – $361
California CA21$276+31%$73 – $350
Illinois IL23$269+27%$158 – $305
West Virginia WV17$259+22%$203 – $382
Colorado CO16$245+16%$244 – $261
South Carolina SC15$226+7%$205 – $226
Oregon OR10$224+6%$187 – $507
Pennsylvania PA30$210−1%$98 – $266
Minnesota MN28$208−1%$153 – $257
Washington WA24$195−8%$47 – $224
North Carolina NC42$194−8%$165 – $283
New York NY26$188−11%$188 – $376
Missouri MO12$180−15%$148 – $247
Indiana IN13$158−26%$98 – $278
New Jersey NJ14$157−26%$157 – $157
Virginia VA10$135−36%$122 – $160
Texas TX52$105−50%$105 – $248
Kentucky KY11$54−75%$44 – $176
Kansas KS9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Ohio OH9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Georgia GA8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Utah UT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY1not enough hospitals filed a usable price

Hospitals like yours

The same distribution cut by the kind of hospital. Hospital type and ownership come from CMS; a hospital counts as part of a system when its price file is shared with at least one other hospital under the same brand. The national median is $212.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care398$213$110 – $289
Children’s21$150$150 – $227
Critical access112$226$155 – $375
Ownership
For-profit46$142$105 – $284
Government79$240$165 – $321
Non-profit406$212$122 – $296
System affiliation
Part of a system468$208$111 – $289
Independent64$240$174 – $371

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$384
Median cash price$212
Cash as a share of list, median hospital60%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 40%. The share is the median of each hospital’s own cash ÷ list ratio, over hospitals that filed both — not the ratio of the two medians above.

The same procedure, inpatient

375 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $226 and the average of the middle 60% is $221; most fall between $111 and $340.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 375 hospitals. Each figure is a price a hospital filed. 10th: one in ten hospitals charges less; 25th: a quarter charge less; Median: half charge less; 75th: three quarters charge less; 90th: nine in ten charge less.
10th25thMedian75th90th
$105$143$226$294$466

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 4.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($105 vs $466).

Of the 391 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 375 gave a usable cash price; 0 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 16 a list price only.

How complete is this

532 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (13%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 550 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted532
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here2
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded16
Hospitals that filed this code550

Sections not shown for this setting

  • Against Medicare: Medicare has no separately payable national outpatient (OPPS) rate for this code, so there is nothing honest to compare against.
  • Since our last snapshot: there is no earlier snapshot at least 90 days older than this one yet.

We last checked these hospitals’ price files for changes between September 4, 2026 and September 25, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 25, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as ***Nfct Ds Rna 4 Targets Upper Respiratory Specimen.

Method

Source
The machine-readable price files every U.S. hospital is required by CMS to publish, parsed per hospital. Nothing is surveyed, sampled or modelled.
What counts
One cash (self-pay) price per hospital for this code and setting. A hospital’s own filing can rule its number out — a placeholder, a “not applicable” note, a list price standing in for cash — and our plausibility checks can flag a price far below what every other hospital files. Both kinds are disclosed above and excluded from the statistics; on the compare tool a flagged price is still shown.
Statistics
Percentiles are discrete: each is a price some hospital filed. The average is the mean of the prices between the 20th and 80th percentiles. We never publish the plain mean, the minimum or the maximum. A state needs 10 hospitals and a segment 20 to show a figure; otherwise the row shows its count and no number. Medicare is the national unadjusted OPPS rate where one exists.
Names
Procedure names on these pages are our own plain-language titles, not the AMA’s copyrighted CPT descriptors. The code is the identity.

The full rules — sources, statistics, thresholds, limitations — are on the methodology page.

Download this page’s figures: JSON · CSV. Aggregates only — the per-hospital prices are on the compare tool.

Cite: HospitalRates.com, “Swab test for COVID-19, flu A and B, and RSV (CPT 0241U) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-0241u-swab-test-for-covid-19-flu-a-and-b-and-rsv