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Procedure price report · Other Laboratory

Blood sample drawn from an artery

CPT 36600the billing code this page is about

A needle puncture of an artery to collect a blood specimen for laboratory testing, such as a blood gas measurement.

Hospitals typically charge $119 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,300 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $122. Most fall between $59 and $215 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,300
States
50
Filings dated
Aug 2022 – 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 3,300 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
$38$69$119$190$334

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.9× what the cheapest tenth charges ($38 vs $334).

How the prices are spread

$26 – $35: 117 hospitals$26$35 – $46: 213 hospitals$46 – $62: 213 hospitals$46$62 – $83: 385 hospitals$83 – $111: 445 hospitals$83$111 – $149: 565 hospitals$149 – $199: 437 hospitals$149$199 – $267: 291 hospitals$267 – $358: 196 hospitals$267$358 – $479: 109 hospitals$358median $119price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (2,971 of 3,300 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$26$35117
$35$46213
$46$62213
$62$83385
$83$111445
$111$149565
$149$199437
$199$267291
$267$358196
$358$479109

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$136
Median cash price$119
Cash as a multiple of Medicare0.88×

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 $119.

Alaska: median $204 across 17 hospitalsAK$204Maine: median $84 across 23 hospitalsME$84Vermont: median $134 across 13 hospitalsVT$134New Hampshire: median $75 across 23 hospitalsNH$75Washington: median $158 across 76 hospitalsWA$158Idaho: median $160 across 24 hospitalsID$160Montana: median $82 across 30 hospitalsMT$82North Dakota: median $194 across 30 hospitalsND$194Minnesota: median $116 across 104 hospitalsMN$116Illinois: median $115 across 131 hospitalsIL$115Wisconsin: median $88 across 105 hospitalsWI$88Michigan: median $128 across 97 hospitalsMI$128New York: median $159 across 103 hospitalsNY$159Massachusetts: median $217 across 48 hospitalsMA$217Oregon: median $86 across 55 hospitalsOR$86Nevada: median $95 across 22 hospitalsNV$95Wyoming: median $47 across 16 hospitalsWY$47South Dakota: median $132 across 30 hospitalsSD$132Iowa: median $84 across 88 hospitalsIA$84Indiana: median $121 across 93 hospitalsIN$121Ohio: median $140 across 145 hospitalsOH$140Pennsylvania: median $148 across 121 hospitalsPA$148New Jersey: median $172 across 58 hospitalsNJ$172Connecticut: median $124 across 21 hospitalsCT$124Rhode Island: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $177 across 213 hospitalsCA$177Utah: median $891 across 40 hospitalsUT$891Colorado: median $118 across 70 hospitalsCO$118Nebraska: median $102 across 76 hospitalsNE$102Missouri: median $126 across 73 hospitalsMO$126Kentucky: median $105 across 68 hospitalsKY$105West Virginia: median $102 across 41 hospitalsWV$102Virginia: median $106 across 73 hospitalsVA$106Maryland: median $57 across 31 hospitalsMD$57Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $145 across 54 hospitalsAZ$145New Mexico: median $129 across 32 hospitalsNM$129Kansas: median $85 across 83 hospitalsKS$85Arkansas: median $86 across 40 hospitalsAR$86Tennessee: median $53 across 69 hospitalsTN$53North Carolina: median $77 across 94 hospitalsNC$77South Carolina: median $122 across 49 hospitalsSC$122Oklahoma: median $80 across 68 hospitalsOK$80Louisiana: median $60 across 52 hospitalsLA$60Mississippi: median $76 across 54 hospitalsMS$76Alabama: median $102 across 34 hospitalsAL$102Georgia: median $122 across 100 hospitalsGA$122Hawaii: median $212 across 13 hospitalsHI$212Texas: median $104 across 235 hospitalsTX$104Florida: median $170 across 149 hospitalsFL$170
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $119. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Utah UT40$891+646%$182 – $1,007
Massachusetts MA48$217+82%$75 – $331
Hawaii HI13$212+78%$166 – $287
Alaska AK17$204+71%$144 – $351
North Dakota ND30$194+62%$72 – $230
California CA213$177+48%$104 – $297
New Jersey NJ58$172+44%$141 – $3,786
Florida FL149$170+42%$63 – $359
Idaho ID24$160+34%$34 – $296
New York NY103$159+33%$72 – $281
Washington WA76$158+33%$99 – $263
Pennsylvania PA121$148+24%$73 – $248
Arizona AZ54$145+21%$48 – $492
Ohio OH145$140+17%$85 – $226
Vermont VT13$134+12%$91 – $196
South Dakota SD30$132+10%$79 – $165
New Mexico NM32$129+8%$48 – $191
Michigan MI97$128+7%$67 – $201
Missouri MO73$126+5%$49 – $170
Connecticut CT21$124+4%$80 – $151
South Carolina SC49$122+2%$39 – $148
Georgia GA100$122+2%$78 – $183
Indiana IN93$121+1%$42 – $180
Colorado CO70$118−1%$64 – $214
Minnesota MN104$116−3%$70 – $140
Illinois IL131$115−4%$55 – $202
Virginia VA73$106−11%$39 – $175
Kentucky KY68$105−13%$46 – $208
Texas TX235$104−13%$69 – $236
Nebraska NE76$102−14%$68 – $132
Alabama AL34$102−15%$47 – $213
West Virginia WV41$102−15%$61 – $182
Nevada NV22$95−20%$62 – $144
Wisconsin WI105$88−26%$54 – $118
Arkansas AR40$86−28%$43 – $208
Oregon OR55$86−28%$50 – $160
Kansas KS83$85−28%$58 – $125
Maine ME23$84−30%$36 – $266
Iowa IA88$84−30%$39 – $118
Montana MT30$82−31%$36 – $146
Oklahoma OK68$80−33%$46 – $148
North Carolina NC94$77−35%$54 – $158
Mississippi MS54$76−36%$35 – $160
New Hampshire NH23$75−37%$27 – $213
Louisiana LA52$60−50%$21 – $118
Maryland MD31$57−53%$45 – $77
Tennessee TN69$53−56%$30 – $174
Wyoming WY16$47−60%$43 – $107
Rhode Island RI9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE7not 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 $119.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,324$128$63 – $242
Children’s51$98$73 – $263
Critical access915$94$48 – $165
Ownership
For-profit466$143$72 – $326
Government609$94$51 – $179
Non-profit2,215$120$60 – $208
System affiliation
Part of a system2,686$122$61 – $225
Independent614$102$48 – $195

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$190
Median cash price$119
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

2,395 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $121 and the average of the middle 60% is $125; most fall between $62 and $235.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,395 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
$38$72$121$196$349

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 9.2× what the cheapest tenth charges ($38 vs $349).

Of the 2,562 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,395 gave a usable cash price; 62 carried a plausibility flag, 0 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 105 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,300 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (83%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,521 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,300
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here98
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded0
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded2
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded121
Hospitals that filed this code3,521

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 Other Laboratory family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Arterial Puncture Withdrawal Blood Dx.

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 sample drawn from an artery (CPT 36600) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-36600-blood-sample-drawn-from-an-artery