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Procedure price report · Blood and blood product transfusion

Light treatment of blood outside the body

CPT 36522the billing code this page is about

White blood cells are separated out, treated with a light-sensitive drug and ultraviolet light, then returned to the body; the charge covers one session.

Hospitals typically charge $7,399 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 564 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $7,616. Most fall between $4,384 and $12,214 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
564
States
49
Filings dated
Jun 2024 – 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 564 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
$2,513$4,714$7,399$11,462$15,271

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 6.1× what the cheapest tenth charges ($2,513 vs $15,271).

How the prices are spread

$1,993 – $2,456: 29 hospitals$1,993$2,456 – $3,025: 16 hospitals$3,025 – $3,727: 26 hospitals$3,025$3,727 – $4,592: 27 hospitals$4,592 – $5,657: 99 hospitals$4,592$5,657 – $6,970: 51 hospitals$6,970 – $8,587: 78 hospitals$6,970$8,587 – $10,579: 68 hospitals$10,579 – $13,034: 76 hospitals$10,579$13,034 – $16,058: 43 hospitals$13,034median $7,399price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (513 of 564 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$1,993$2,45629
$2,456$3,02516
$3,025$3,72726
$3,727$4,59227
$4,592$5,65799
$5,657$6,97051
$6,970$8,58778
$8,587$10,57968
$10,579$13,03476
$13,034$16,05843

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$4,450
Median cash price$7,399
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.66×

The Medicare figure is the national unadjusted OPPS rate for this code — what Medicare itself pays a hospital before local wage adjustment. It is a benchmark, not a price anyone is charged.

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $7,399.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMEVermont: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVTNew Hampshire: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNHWashington: median $6,440 across 10 hospitalsWA$6,440Idaho: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureIDMontana: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMTNorth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNDMinnesota: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: median $3,906 across 23 hospitalsIL$3,906Wisconsin: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: median $7,967 across 24 hospitalsMI$7,967New York: median $5,544 across 28 hospitalsNY$5,544Massachusetts: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: median $6,824 across 11 hospitalsOR$6,824Nevada: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSDIowa: median $4,665 across 16 hospitalsIA$4,665Indiana: median $8,863 across 16 hospitalsIN$8,863Ohio: median $7,399 across 11 hospitalsOH$7,399Pennsylvania: median $5,146 across 22 hospitalsPA$5,146New Jersey: median $5,419 across 30 hospitalsNJ$5,419Connecticut: 5 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 $12,074 across 65 hospitalsCA$12,074Utah: median $9,074 across 12 hospitalsUT$9,074Colorado: median $9,491 across 12 hospitalsCO$9,491Nebraska: median $3,345 across 10 hospitalsNE$3,345Missouri: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKYWest Virginia: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $5,345 across 18 hospitalsAZ$5,345New Mexico: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: median $2,590 across 10 hospitalsTN$2,590North Carolina: median $15,271 across 17 hospitalsNC$15,271South Carolina: median $9,528 across 16 hospitalsSC$9,528Oklahoma: median $4,615 across 11 hospitalsOK$4,615Louisiana: median $2,399 across 12 hospitalsLA$2,399Mississippi: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $8,738 across 23 hospitalsGA$8,738Hawaii: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureHITexas: median $9,391 across 45 hospitalsTX$9,391Florida: median $6,941 across 42 hospitalsFL$6,941
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $7,399. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
North Carolina NC17$15,271+106%$6,378 – $15,271
California CA65$12,074+63%$7,862 – $12,214
South Carolina SC16$9,528+29%$6,553 – $9,528
Colorado CO12$9,491+28%$6,470 – $12,125
Texas TX45$9,391+27%$7,577 – $9,713
Utah UT12$9,074+23%$9,074 – $9,074
Indiana IN16$8,863+20%$7,744 – $11,757
Georgia GA23$8,738+18%$5,280 – $12,508
Michigan MI24$7,967+8%$5,989 – $13,771
Ohio OH11$7,3990%$501 – $8,201
Florida FL42$6,941−6%$1,993 – $15,334
Oregon OR11$6,824−8%$5,043 – $6,824
Washington WA10$6,440−13%$5,230 – $10,491
New York NY28$5,544−25%$5,170 – $13,982
New Jersey NJ30$5,419−27%$5,110 – $6,252
Arizona AZ18$5,345−28%$2,462 – $15,821
Pennsylvania PA22$5,146−30%$3,333 – $16,869
Iowa IA16$4,665−37%$4,665 – $4,665
Oklahoma OK11$4,615−38%$4,245 – $9,552
Illinois IL23$3,906−47%$1,363 – $12,718
Nebraska NE10$3,345−55%$556 – $3,345
Tennessee TN10$2,590−65%$2,062 – $4,544
Louisiana LA12$2,399−68%$2,008 – $7,118
Virginia VA9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Idaho ID7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kentucky KY3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Hawaii HI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Montana MT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
North Dakota ND1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Dakota SD1not 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 $7,399.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care504$6,941$4,245 – $12,214
Children’s29$9,391$6,136 – $16,105
Critical access28$7,577$4,665 – $12,718
Ownership
For-profit50$7,594$2,062 – $15,821
Government74$5,570$3,906 – $15,271
Non-profit437$7,521$4,625 – $12,214
System affiliation
Part of a system513$7,521$4,558 – $12,214
Independent51$6,169$3,211 – $11,216

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$13,538
Median cash price$7,399
Cash as a share of list, median hospital59%

At the typical hospital, asking for the cash price cuts the list price by about 41%. 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

419 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $8,201 and the average of the middle 60% is $8,103; most fall between $4,544 and $12,214.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 419 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
$2,590$4,714$8,201$12,125$15,271

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 5.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($2,590 vs $15,271).

Of the 463 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 419 gave a usable cash price; 27 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 17 a list price only.

How complete is this

564 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (14%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 631 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted564
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here50
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded0
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded16
Hospitals that filed this code631

Sections not shown for this setting

  • 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 Blood and blood product transfusion family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as PR Photopheresis.

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, “Light treatment of blood outside the body (CPT 36522) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-36522-light-treatment-of-blood-outside-the-body