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Procedure price report · Pathology

Pathologist consultation, moderate (21 to 40 minutes)

CPT 80504the billing code this page is about

A written opinion from a pathologist on lab or specimen results with review of records and testing; billed for 21 to 40 minutes of the pathologist's time on the day of the consultation.

Hospitals typically charge $192 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 338 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $221. Most fall between $102 and $414 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
338
States
43
Filings dated
Apr 2025 – 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 338 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
$62$120$192$328$464

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 7.4× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $464).

How the prices are spread

$44 – $58: 5 hospitals$44$58 – $77: 26 hospitals$77 – $101: 19 hospitals$77$101 – $133: 25 hospitals$133 – $176: 43 hospitals$133$176 – $233: 86 hospitals$233 – $307: 30 hospitals$233$307 – $406: 16 hospitals$406 – $536: 48 hospitals$406$536 – $708: 8 hospitals$536median $192price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (306 of 338 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$44$585
$58$7726
$77$10119
$101$13325
$133$17643
$176$23386
$233$30730
$307$40616
$406$53648
$536$7088

Against Medicare

Medicare pays (OPPS 2026, national rate)$174
Median cash price$192
Cash as a multiple of Medicare1.10×

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 $192.

Alaska: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAKMaine: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMEVermont: 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: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWAIdaho: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceIDMontana: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceMTNorth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceNDMinnesota: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMNIllinois: 8 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureILWisconsin: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWIMichigan: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMINew York: median $203 across 25 hospitalsNY$203Massachusetts: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMAOregon: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureORNevada: 6 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNVWyoming: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWYSouth Dakota: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceSDIowa: median $156 across 12 hospitalsIA$156Indiana: 9 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureINOhio: median $168 across 11 hospitalsOH$168Pennsylvania: median $431 across 45 hospitalsPA$431New Jersey: median $190 across 16 hospitalsNJ$190Connecticut: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureCTRhode Island: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureRICalifornia: median $414 across 25 hospitalsCA$414Utah: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceUTColorado: median $219 across 13 hospitalsCO$219Nebraska: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNEMissouri: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMOKentucky: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceKYWest Virginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureWVVirginia: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureVAMaryland: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMDDelaware: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureAZNew Mexico: 1 hospital filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureNMKansas: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureKSArkansas: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureARTennessee: 5 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureTNNorth Carolina: median $258 across 12 hospitalsNC$258South Carolina: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureSCOklahoma: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureOKLouisiana: 2 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureLAMississippi: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureMSAlabama: 4 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureALGeorgia: median $62 across 30 hospitalsGA$62Hawaii: no hospital in the corpus filed a usable priceHITexas: median $178 across 33 hospitalsTX$178Florida: 3 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureFL
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $192. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
Pennsylvania PA45$431+125%$35 – $708
California CA25$414+116%$414 – $414
North Carolina NC12$258+34%$219 – $272
Colorado CO13$219+14%$149 – $219
New York NY25$203+6%$174 – $224
New Jersey NJ16$190−1%$187 – $220
Texas TX33$178−7%$178 – $212
Ohio OH11$168−13%$154 – $168
Iowa IA12$156−19%$156 – $156
Georgia GA30$62−68%$58 – $293
Indiana IN9not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Illinois IL8not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Kansas KS7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oklahoma OK7not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Michigan MI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nevada NV6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Washington WA6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wisconsin WI6not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Tennessee TN5not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alabama AL4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arkansas AR4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Delaware DE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Nebraska NE4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Rhode Island RI4not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Florida FL3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Massachusetts MA3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Mississippi MS3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Oregon OR3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
South Carolina SC3not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Alaska AK2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Arizona AZ2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Louisiana LA2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maine ME2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Minnesota MN2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Vermont VT2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Wyoming WY2not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Connecticut CT1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Maryland MD1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Missouri MO1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Hampshire NH1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
New Mexico NM1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
Virginia VA1not enough hospitals filed a usable price
West Virginia WV1not 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 $192.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care307$192$105 – $414
Children’s5fewer than 20 hospitals
Critical access24$192$85 – $374
Ownership
For-profit38$174$62 – $259
Government36$189$85 – $272
Non-profit262$203$110 – $414
System affiliation
Part of a system304$197$105 – $414
Independent34$172$87 – $347

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$381
Median cash price$192
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

237 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $212 and the average of the middle 60% is $257; most fall between $111 and $448.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 237 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
$62$149$212$414$536

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 8.6× what the cheapest tenth charges ($62 vs $536).

Of the 272 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 237 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 8 a list price only.

How complete is this

338 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (9%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 375 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted338
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here28
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 — excluded8
Hospitals that filed this code375

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 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.

Related procedures

Part of the Pathology family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as Pathology Clinical Consultation Mod Mdm 21-40min.

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, “Pathologist consultation, moderate (21 to 40 minutes) (CPT 80504) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-80504-pathologist-consultation-moderate-21-to-40-minutes