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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Blood collection by finger, heel or ear stick

CPT 36416the billing code this page is about

Collection of a small blood sample from a fingertip, heel or earlobe puncture for laboratory testing; the code covers the collection only, not the tests performed.

Hospitals typically charge $17 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 2,641 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $17. Most fall between $8 and $31 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
2,641
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – Sep 2026
Computed
September 25, 2026
Prices checked
through September 24, 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 2,641 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
$5$9$17$28$44

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($5 vs $44).

How the prices are spread

$4 – $5: 136 hospitals$4$5 – $7: 161 hospitals$7 – $9: 241 hospitals$7$9 – $12: 244 hospitals$12 – $15: 334 hospitals$12$15 – $20: 324 hospitals$20 – $27: 381 hospitals$20$27 – $36: 288 hospitals$36 – $48: 165 hospitals$36$48 – $64: 103 hospitals$48median $17price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,377 of 2,641 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$4$5136
$5$7161
$7$9241
$9$12244
$12$15334
$15$20324
$20$27381
$27$36288
$36$48165
$48$64103

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $17.

Alaska: median $43 across 15 hospitalsAK$43Maine: median $14 across 19 hospitalsME$14Vermont: median $21 across 12 hospitalsVT$21New Hampshire: median $15 across 21 hospitalsNH$15Washington: median $24 across 69 hospitalsWA$24Idaho: median $25 across 21 hospitalsID$25Montana: median $17 across 18 hospitalsMT$17North Dakota: median $20 across 27 hospitalsND$20Minnesota: median $22 across 87 hospitalsMN$22Illinois: median $25 across 133 hospitalsIL$25Wisconsin: median $20 across 100 hospitalsWI$20Michigan: median $17 across 75 hospitalsMI$17New York: median $16 across 83 hospitalsNY$16Massachusetts: median $12 across 38 hospitalsMA$12Oregon: median $17 across 46 hospitalsOR$17Nevada: median $27 across 19 hospitalsNV$27Wyoming: median $22 across 15 hospitalsWY$22South Dakota: median $33 across 34 hospitalsSD$33Iowa: median $16 across 67 hospitalsIA$16Indiana: median $10 across 79 hospitalsIN$10Ohio: median $16 across 123 hospitalsOH$16Pennsylvania: median $16 across 74 hospitalsPA$16New Jersey: median $15 across 38 hospitalsNJ$15Connecticut: median $19 across 17 hospitalsCT$19Rhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $14 across 166 hospitalsCA$14Utah: median $17 across 37 hospitalsUT$17Colorado: median $20 across 69 hospitalsCO$20Nebraska: median $26 across 71 hospitalsNE$26Missouri: median $9 across 59 hospitalsMO$9Kentucky: median $17 across 49 hospitalsKY$17West Virginia: median $10 across 32 hospitalsWV$10Virginia: median $23 across 63 hospitalsVA$23Maryland: median $17 across 21 hospitalsMD$17Delaware: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $14 across 42 hospitalsAZ$14New Mexico: median $15 across 25 hospitalsNM$15Kansas: median $13 across 62 hospitalsKS$13Arkansas: median $8 across 32 hospitalsAR$8Tennessee: median $9 across 45 hospitalsTN$9North Carolina: median $17 across 65 hospitalsNC$17South Carolina: median $21 across 41 hospitalsSC$21Oklahoma: median $8 across 58 hospitalsOK$8Louisiana: median $6 across 43 hospitalsLA$6Mississippi: median $7 across 43 hospitalsMS$7Alabama: median $11 across 19 hospitalsAL$11Georgia: median $18 across 77 hospitalsGA$18Hawaii: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $18 across 170 hospitalsTX$18Florida: median $19 across 106 hospitalsFL$19
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $17. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Alaska AK15$43+163%$26 – $56
South Dakota SD34$33+102%$14 – $42
Nevada NV19$27+64%$16 – $37
Nebraska NE71$26+58%$16 – $37
Idaho ID21$25+54%$15 – $32
Illinois IL133$25+52%$12 – $34
Washington WA69$24+47%$11 – $39
Virginia VA63$23+36%$13 – $28
Wyoming WY15$22+35%$15 – $26
Minnesota MN87$22+34%$12 – $28
Vermont VT12$21+27%$10 – $40
South Carolina SC41$21+26%$9 – $43
Colorado CO69$20+23%$10 – $35
North Dakota ND27$20+21%$15 – $24
Wisconsin WI100$20+19%$10 – $29
Connecticut CT17$19+15%$6 – $30
Florida FL106$19+13%$7 – $43
Georgia GA77$18+6%$9 – $34
Texas TX170$18+6%$9 – $31
Maryland MD21$17+6%$13 – $39
North Carolina NC65$17+5%$6 – $45
Utah UT37$17+5%$15 – $26
Oregon OR46$17+5%$11 – $29
Michigan MI75$17+3%$6 – $30
Montana MT18$17+3%$12 – $26
Kentucky KY49$17+2%$7 – $28
Iowa IA67$16−3%$10 – $29
New York NY83$16−3%$5 – $56
Ohio OH123$16−5%$10 – $29
Pennsylvania PA74$16−5%$8 – $28
New Hampshire NH21$15−7%$10 – $24
New Jersey NJ38$15−9%$6 – $36
New Mexico NM25$15−11%$10 – $26
Maine ME19$14−15%$7 – $28
Arizona AZ42$14−15%$7 – $29
California CA166$14−18%$6 – $43
Kansas KS62$13−21%$7 – $24
Massachusetts MA38$12−27%$5 – $25
Alabama AL19$11−36%$8 – $18
Indiana IN79$10−38%$3 – $21
West Virginia WV32$10−39%$6 – $17
Tennessee TN45$9−45%$3 – $19
Missouri MO59$9−45%$5 – $17
Arkansas AR32$8−53%$6 – $8
Oklahoma OK58$8−53%$4 – $19
Mississippi MS43$7−58%$5 – $11
Louisiana LA43$6−63%$3 – $12
Hawaii HI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE3not 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 $17.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care1,804$16$7 – $32
Children’s56$12$5 – $30
Critical access773$19$8 – $31
Ownership
For-profit284$20$8 – $56
Government478$17$8 – $30
Non-profit1,871$16$7 – $30
System affiliation
Part of a system2,174$16$7 – $31
Independent467$17$8 – $31

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$28
Median cash price$17
Cash as a share of list, median hospital65%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 35%. 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

1,855 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $17 and the average of the middle 60% is $18; most fall between $8 and $31.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 1,855 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
$6$9$17$29$44

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.7× what the cheapest tenth charges ($6 vs $44).

Of the 2,003 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 1,855 gave a usable cash price; 48 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 100 a list price only.

How complete is this

2,641 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (67%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 2,880 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted2,641
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here82
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded156
Hospitals that filed this code2,880

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 24, 2026; the figures were computed September 25, 2026 from filings loaded through September 24, 2026. The percentiles and averages use only the “counted” row.

Related procedures

Part of the Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Collection Capillary Blood 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, “Blood collection by finger, heel or ear stick (CPT 36416) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-36416-blood-collection-by-finger-heel-or-ear-stick