HRHospitalRates.comCompare prices

Procedure price report · Nonoperative urinary system measurements

Urine dipstick test without microscope exam, machine read

CPT 81003the billing code this page is about

A urine dipstick screen for substances such as glucose, protein, blood, and pH that is read by an automated instrument, with no microscope examination of the sample.

Hospitals typically charge $22 cash for this outpatient procedure — the median across 3,361 hospitals that filed a usable cash price; the average of the middle 60% is $24. Most fall between $8 and $49 (20th–80th percentile).

Hospitals
3,361
States
50
Filings dated
Mar 2023 – 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 3,361 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$10$22$41$74

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 16× what the cheapest tenth charges ($5 vs $74).

How the prices are spread

$3 – $4: 129 hospitals$3$4 – $6: 177 hospitals$6 – $9: 257 hospitals$6$9 – $13: 355 hospitals$13 – $19: 439 hospitals$13$19 – $28: 499 hospitals$28 – $42: 511 hospitals$28$42 – $61: 381 hospitals$61 – $90: 182 hospitals$61$90 – $133: 98 hospitals$90median $22price bands are equal on a log scale
Hospitals per price band (3,028 of 3,361 — the bands cover the 5th to 95th percentile)
FromToHospitals
$3$4129
$4$6177
$6$9257
$9$13355
$13$19439
$19$28499
$28$42511
$42$61381
$61$90182
$90$13398

By state

The median cash price in each state, against the national median of $22.

Alaska: median $44 across 19 hospitalsAK$44Maine: median $19 across 28 hospitalsME$19Vermont: median $30 across 14 hospitalsVT$30New Hampshire: median $23 across 25 hospitalsNH$23Washington: median $25 across 76 hospitalsWA$25Idaho: median $11 across 24 hospitalsID$11Montana: median $23 across 35 hospitalsMT$23North Dakota: median $18 across 32 hospitalsND$18Minnesota: median $23 across 109 hospitalsMN$23Illinois: median $38 across 141 hospitalsIL$38Wisconsin: median $25 across 110 hospitalsWI$25Michigan: median $13 across 97 hospitalsMI$13New York: median $9 across 116 hospitalsNY$9Massachusetts: median $23 across 54 hospitalsMA$23Oregon: median $17 across 50 hospitalsOR$17Nevada: median $25 across 21 hospitalsNV$25Wyoming: median $16 across 15 hospitalsWY$16South Dakota: median $48 across 41 hospitalsSD$48Iowa: median $26 across 88 hospitalsIA$26Indiana: median $12 across 92 hospitalsIN$12Ohio: median $23 across 144 hospitalsOH$23Pennsylvania: median $16 across 122 hospitalsPA$16New Jersey: median $3 across 55 hospitalsNJ$3Connecticut: median $11 across 23 hospitalsCT$11Rhode Island: median $23 across 10 hospitalsRI$23California: median $56 across 164 hospitalsCA$56Utah: median $15 across 40 hospitalsUT$15Colorado: median $37 across 70 hospitalsCO$37Nebraska: median $35 across 82 hospitalsNE$35Missouri: median $20 across 76 hospitalsMO$20Kentucky: median $19 across 68 hospitalsKY$19West Virginia: median $13 across 42 hospitalsWV$13Virginia: median $27 across 72 hospitalsVA$27Maryland: median $11 across 41 hospitalsMD$11Delaware: 7 hospitals filed a usable price — fewer than 10, so no figureDEArizona: median $11 across 42 hospitalsAZ$11New Mexico: median $24 across 30 hospitalsNM$24Kansas: median $16 across 90 hospitalsKS$16Arkansas: median $14 across 38 hospitalsAR$14Tennessee: median $11 across 82 hospitalsTN$11North Carolina: median $24 across 93 hospitalsNC$24South Carolina: median $38 across 52 hospitalsSC$38Oklahoma: median $18 across 72 hospitalsOK$18Louisiana: median $10 across 54 hospitalsLA$10Mississippi: median $14 across 54 hospitalsMS$14Alabama: median $19 across 42 hospitalsAL$19Georgia: median $36 across 106 hospitalsGA$36Hawaii: median $24 across 21 hospitalsHI$24Texas: median $40 across 234 hospitalsTX$40Florida: median $49 across 148 hospitalsFL$49
Cash price by state, most expensive first. National median $22. A state needs at least 10 hospitals with a usable price to show a figure.
StateHospitalsMedianvs national20th–80th
California CA164$56+155%$16 – $96
Florida FL148$49+122%$10 – $263
South Dakota SD41$48+116%$34 – $67
Alaska AK19$44+99%$5 – $64
Texas TX234$40+80%$17 – $92
Illinois IL141$38+75%$13 – $61
South Carolina SC52$38+74%$18 – $73
Colorado CO70$37+68%$16 – $48
Georgia GA106$36+64%$9 – $75
Nebraska NE82$35+57%$12 – $56
Vermont VT14$30+35%$11 – $38
Virginia VA72$27+20%$13 – $55
Iowa IA88$26+17%$15 – $40
Nevada NV21$25+15%$12 – $110
Washington WA76$25+14%$11 – $38
Wisconsin WI110$25+14%$16 – $31
New Mexico NM30$24+10%$12 – $36
Hawaii HI21$24+9%$11 – $27
North Carolina NC93$24+9%$9 – $52
Montana MT35$23+6%$12 – $32
Massachusetts MA54$23+6%$11 – $43
Minnesota MN109$23+5%$15 – $36
Rhode Island RI10$23+5%$5 – $27
Ohio OH144$23+3%$8 – $38
New Hampshire NH25$23+3%$9 – $38
Missouri MO76$20−9%$8 – $40
Alabama AL42$19−12%$6 – $86
Kentucky KY68$19−13%$10 – $35
Maine ME28$19−14%$12 – $30
North Dakota ND32$18−18%$14 – $27
Oklahoma OK72$18−20%$9 – $44
Oregon OR50$17−22%$9 – $25
Kansas KS90$16−27%$9 – $30
Wyoming WY15$16−27%$4 – $39
Pennsylvania PA122$16−28%$3 – $35
Utah UT40$15−33%$13 – $49
Mississippi MS54$14−37%$5 – $25
Arkansas AR38$14−38%$7 – $36
West Virginia WV42$13−40%$8 – $23
Michigan MI97$13−41%$6 – $18
Indiana IN92$12−45%$6 – $26
Idaho ID24$11−49%$8 – $20
Connecticut CT23$11−50%$7 – $19
Maryland MD41$11−51%$8 – $13
Tennessee TN82$11−51%$5 – $32
Arizona AZ42$11−52%$4 – $44
Louisiana LA54$10−56%$4 – $32
New York NY116$9−61%$4 – $36
New Jersey NJ55$3−88%$2 – $15
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 $22.

Cash price by hospital segment. A segment needs at least 20 hospitals to show a figure.
SegmentHospitalsMedian20th–80th
Hospital type
Acute care2,317$21$7 – $53
Children’s68$22$15 – $58
Critical access966$24$10 – $41
Ownership
For-profit470$36$10 – $140
Government618$22$9 – $45
Non-profit2,263$20$8 – $43
System affiliation
Part of a system2,726$23$8 – $50
Independent635$20$8 – $42

Cash price vs list price

Median list price (chargemaster)$37
Median cash price$22
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

2,280 hospitals filed a usable inpatient cash price for this code. The median is $24 and the average of the middle 60% is $25; most fall between $10 and $50.

Cash price percentiles, inpatient, across 2,280 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$11$24$43$67

The most expensive tenth of hospitals charges at least 13× what the cheapest tenth charges ($5 vs $67).

Of the 2,522 hospitals that filed this code inpatient, 2,280 gave a usable cash price; 133 carried a plausibility flag, 1 filed a number their own filing marks as not a price, 0 gave an estimate, and 108 a list price only.

How complete is this

3,361 of the 3,956 hospitals with a price file in our corpus (85%) filed a usable outpatient cash price for this code, and those are the hospitals every figure on this page is computed from.

What the 3,674 hospitals that filed this code at all gave us
Usable cash price — counted3,361
Cash price carrying a plausibility flag — shown on the compare tool, excluded here178
A number the filing itself marks as not a price (a placeholder, a ratio) — excluded1
An estimate rather than a filed cash price — excluded1
A list price only, no cash figure — excluded133
Hospitals that filed this code3,674

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.

Related procedures

Part of the Nonoperative urinary system measurements family.

Hospitals file this code under descriptions such as HC Urinalysis Dipstick.

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, “Urine dipstick test without microscope exam, machine read (CPT 81003) — cash price report,” computed September 25, 2026. https://hospitalrates.com/procedures/cpt-81003-urine-dipstick-test-without-microscope-exam-machine-read